Risk as the back side of freedom in modern society

The paper examines the state of contemporary society through the trend towards the future as a “society of uncertainty”. Uncertainty is understood as a transition of certainty to its other state. Such certainties are two extreme, polar, states, such as the original “industrial society” and something different in relation to it - the “risk society”. In order to establish the boundaries of the certainty of risk, certainties are introduced of what is “not yet risk”, what is “on the other side of risk” and what is “proper risk”. While “not yet risk” is a situation of danger and “no longer a risk” is arbitrariness. It has been determined that the essence of risk lies in uncertainty, which reveals itself in the transition from danger to arbitrariness as a process of mastering of necessity by will. The author’s definition of risk is introduced as a state of tension due to the need to remove the danger. The identity of risk with the idea of freedom as its reverse side is considered. The synthesis of will and necessity is accepted as the idea of freedom, which most fully expresses the power over the future.