Safety as a fundamental problem of human existence.
Man is a creature that is aware of its vulnerability. This is perhaps the main difference between human existence and a simple biological presence in the world. An animal reacts to a threat, a person anticipates it. He lives not only in the present, but also in the horizon of the possible, including a possible catastrophe.
From birth, a person finds himself in a state of radical dependence: from other people, from the environment, from complex systems that he himself subsequently creates. His body is fragile, his psyche is subject to fear, and his consciousness is able to imagine threats that do not yet exist. This ability to anticipate transforms safety from a simple reaction to danger to a permanent background of human existence.
So safety is not just a lack of threats. This is a state in which a person is able to act, think and make long-term plans without being paralyzed by fear. In this sense, safety is a condition for the possibility of freedom.
But here comes an important twist: safety is never complete. Even in the most protected conditions, a person retains a sense of a potential threat – death, loss, destruction. This means that safety is not a state, but a process, a constant effort to keep the world within predictability.
That is why the safety problem turns out to be not technical, but philosophical. It concerns not only how to defend yourself, but also what is considered a threat, what level of risk is acceptable, and for what protection is needed at all.
Book 2 of 5,
Print length 161,
Language English,
File size 1,5 Mb (Pdf)
Contents
Introduction
• Safety as a fundamental problem of human existence
• Historical shift: from physical survival to integrated safety
• Safety in the structure of human needs (biological, social, symbolic levels)
• Paradox: the more safety means – the higher the feeling of vulnerability
Methodological difficulties:
• Interdisciplinarity of the concept (philosophy, sociology, politics, psychology)
• Blurring and contextuality of the term
• The problem of measurability of safety
• Normative vs. descriptiveness
Connection with the theme of freedom:
• Safety as a condition of freedom
• Safety as its limitation
• Dialectical tension: freedom ↔ safety
• Introduction of a key conflict of the entire series
Chapter 1. Safety determination
1.1. Safety as Base Category
• Ontological safety status
• Safety as threat denial
• Minimum and maximum safety
• Safety as a process, not a state
1.2. Safety typology
• Physical (bodily)
• Economic
• Political
• Existential
• Information
• Environmental
• Individual vs. collective safety
• Local vs. global
1.3. Objective and subjective safety
• Real threats vs. threat perception
• Safety psychology
• Cognitive distortions (overestimation of rare risks)
• Media and social environment effect
• Gap between statistics and experiences
1.4. Risk and threat
• The difference between risk and threat
• Managed and unmanaged risks
• Probability vs. catastrophic
• Risk as the basis of modern rationality
• The concept of a “risk society”
Chapter 2. Existential safety measurement
2.1. Fear as a foundation
• Fear as a basic emotion
• Biological function of fear
• Fear as a source of social institutions
• Culture of fear
2.2. Uncertainty and anxiety
• The difference between fear and anxiety
• Anxiety as a reaction to uncertainty
• Modernity as an increase in uncertainty
• Existential vulnerability
2.3. Safety and meaning
• Safety as a condition for a meaningful life
• Or as an obstacle to authenticity
• Connection with the search for meaning
• The role of risk in the formation of identity
2.4. Illusion of safety
• Psychological mechanisms of the safety illusion
• Symbolic protection (rituals, ideologies)
• Comfort as a surrogate for safety
• Collapse of illusions (crises, disasters)
Chapter 3. Political philosophy of safety
3.1. State and violence
• The emergence of the state as a response to a threat
• Violence as a tool for ensuring order
• Paradox: protection through coercion
3.2. Legitimacy of power
• Safety as a source of legitimacy
• Social contract
• Exchange of freedom for safety
• Crisis of trust in institutions
3.3. Coercive monopoly
• Centralization of violence
• Police, army, intelligence agencies
• Increased powers in crises
• Danger of abuse
3.4. Safety as an excuse for power
• Rhetoric of threats
• “State of emergency” as the norm
• Restriction of rights under the pretext of safety
• Politics of fear
Chapter 4. Safety social constructions
4.1. Safety as discourse
• Safety concept design
• Who determines what is dangerous
• Threat language
4.2. Production of threats
• Political and media threat-making
• Enemies and “others
” • Moral scares
• Institutionalization of fear
4.3. Media and fear
• Media role in increasing anxiety
• Constant crisis effect
• Threat visualization
• Algorithms and fear
4.4. Collective representations
• Social threat memory
• Cultural threat scenarios
• Safety mythology
• Anxiety normalization
Chapter 5. Safety economics
5.1. Safety as a resource
• Safety as an economic value
• Investment in safety
• Safety as a competitive advantage
5.2. Safety industry
• Private safety structures
• Military industrial complex
• Digital safety as a market
• Safety sector growth
5.3. Inequality and safety
• Access to safety as a privilege
• Spatial segregation (ghettos, gated communities)
• Vulnerability of marginalized groups
• Safety of rich vs. safety of poor
5.4. Privatizing safety
• Reducing the role of the state
• Transferring functions to private entities
• Individualization of responsibility
• Risks of commercialization
Chapter 6. Technology and safety
6.1. Supervision and control
• Surveillance technologies
• Panopticon in the digital age
• Self-monitoring as a result of observability
6.2. Algorithmic control
• Algorithm decision making
• Predictive safety
• Transparency issue
• Algorithmic discrimination
6.3. Cyber safety
• New types of threats
• Vulnerability of digital systems
• States vs. hackers
• Information wars
6.4. Technological protection paradox
• More technologies – more vulnerabilities
• Dependence on infrastructure
• Illusion of control
• Technology as a source of new risks
Conclusion
•Safety as dynamic, unstable category
•Impossibility of absolute safety
•Permanent threat production
•Balancing risk and control
•The constant contradiction between Freedom and Safety
Freedom and Safety (5-book series):
Freedom (book one)
Safety (book two)
Conflict of Freedom and Safety (book three)
Modern Contexts of Freedom and Safety (book four)
Normative Models of Freedom and Safety (book five)
Author Andrew Shamov
© Shamov.info Publishing House, 2026
Website: FreedomAndSafety.com
