ABSTRACT
No one will deny that scientific research also runs risks and engenders dangers. The risk of a research project lies especially in the initial hypotheses proving untenable, or even this finding proving impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. This risk comes to a dramatic head because science is expected to produce new knowledge and for this very reason assessments of the truth value of new developments diverge strongly. As sociologists of science have demonstrated, there are differing attitudes towards the certainty/uncertainty of the results of scientific research even in ordinary scientific controversies. The presentation of results stresses their reliability; criticism underlines the contrary. It is no longer a matter of situations in which science was to be advised to abstain from judgement instead of assuming a risk. It is rather that the future as a whole has entered within the horizon of material uncertainty. The best medium in which to describe them is that of the form probable/improbable.
