# Contested concept: principle vs approach

_**What you are reading**: one contested-concept page in Deliberus's deliberation graph. Deliberus maps human reasoning — including claims that are contested, mistaken, or extreme — so that disagreement can be examined precisely. A claim's presence here is not an endorsement: the graph records that someone argued it, how it connects to other reasoning, and how far scrutiny has gotten. The metadata on this page describes the state of that scrutiny, not the truth of the claim._

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- **Contestedness**: semantic
- **Diagnosis**: The wording masks a political fight over whether precaution binds decision-makers or merely guides them.
- **Canonical**: `/concept/principle vs approach` (data: `/concept/principle vs approach.json`)

## Senses in use
- **Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply** — used in 6 claim(s)
- **Approach: a lens held by prudent people, only sometimes binding** — used in 4 claim(s)
- **Approach: softer, cost-sensitive, capability-sensitive version** — used in 4 claim(s)

## Claims using this term
- [The wording of the [Rio Declaration's precautionary] approach, though largely similar to that of the [precautionary] principle, is subtly d…](/claim/claim_018187ff833d.md) _(sense: Approach: softer, cost-sensitive, capability-sensitive version)_
- [The wording of the [Rio Declaration's precautionary] approach, though largely similar to that of the [precautionary] principle, calls for c…](/claim/claim_07e20d8714b0.md) _(sense: Approach: softer, cost-sensitive, capability-sensitive version)_
- [The term principle has special connotations in legal language, due to the fact that a principle of law is a source of law.](/claim/claim_23eb18fb1ea1.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [A source of law is compulsory, so a court can quash or confirm a decision through the application of the precautionary principle.](/claim/claim_248063ebfab1.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [an 'approach' usually does not have the same meaning [as principle, that is, a source of law]](/claim/claim_2bdcde51520a.md) _(sense: Approach: a lens held by prudent people, only sometimes binding)_
- [In this sense, the precautionary principle is not a simple idea or a desideratum but a source of law.](/claim/claim_574fe5aab12b.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [The differences that the wording of the [precautionary] approach recognizes that there may be differences in local capabilities to apply th…](/claim/claim_8fb43add7607.md) _(sense: Approach: softer, cost-sensitive, capability-sensitive version)_
- [[Because a principle of law is compulsory,] a court can quash or confirm a decision through the application of the precautionary principle.](/claim/claim_9f6c4b944585.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [in some particular cases an approach could be binding.](/claim/claim_a77787f04c7d.md) _(sense: Approach: a lens held by prudent people, only sometimes binding)_
- [[That a principle of law is a source of law] means that it is compulsory](/claim/claim_bab6631b7d42.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [An 'approach' usually does not have the same meaning [as a principle], although in some particular cases an approach could be binding.](/claim/claim_be5158ac0fad.md) _(sense: Approach: a lens held by prudent people, only sometimes binding)_
- [A precautionary approach is a particular "lens" used to identify risk that every prudent person possesses](/claim/claim_d6858ff225a5.md) _(sense: Approach: a lens held by prudent people, only sometimes binding)_
- [A principle of law is a source of law.](/claim/claim_e75aa4ec2539.md) _(sense: Principle: compulsory source of law that courts apply)_
- [The "approach" [the precautionary approach] is generally considered a softening of the "principle" [the precautionary principle]](/claim/claim_eb77ebddc95f.md) _(sense: Approach: softer, cost-sensitive, capability-sensitive version)_