Hostname: page-component-65f69f4695-c2wqj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-28T17:22:00.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The ethics of intergenerational relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Janna Thompson
Janna Thompson*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
*
Email: j.thompson@latrobe.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

According to the relational approach we have obligations to members of future generations not because of their interests or properties but because, and only because, they are our descendants or successors. Common accounts of relational duties do not explain how we can have obligations to people who do not yet exist. In this defence of the relational approach I examine three sources of intergenerational obligations: the concern of parents for their children, including their future children; the desire of community members to pass on a heritage to their descendants; and the relationship of citizens in an intergenerational polity.

Keywords

Intergenerational ethicsintergenerational justiceparental obligationsnon-identitypartialityheritage

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 47 , Issue 2-3: Special issue: Ethics and Future Generations , 2017 , pp. 313 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Anderson, Elizabeth. 2004. “Animal Rights and the Values of Nonhuman Life.” In Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, edited by Sunstein, C. R. and Nussbaum, M. C., 177–197. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Archard, David. 1995. “Moral Partiality.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 20 (1): 129–141. 10.1111/j.1475-4975.1995.tb00308.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baier, Annette. 1985. “Cartesian Persons.” In Postures of the Mind. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Dobson, Andrew. 1999. “Sustainability and Intergenerational Justice.” In Fairness and Futurity, edited by Dobson, Andrew, 93–117. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/0198294891.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, Alan. 2001. “Can We Harm Furture People?” Environmental Values 10 (4): 429–454. 10.3197/096327101129340903CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, Joel. 2013. “The Rights of Animals and Unborn Generations.” In Ethical Theory: An Anthology, edited by Schafer-Landau, R., 2nd ed., 372–380. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Golding, M. P. 1972. “Obligations to Future Generations.” Monist 56 (1): 85–99. 10.5840/monist197256118Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1972. A Theory of Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goodin, Robert. 1985. Protecting the Vulnerable: A Reanalysis of Our Social Responsibilities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Keller, Simon. 2013. Partiality. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 10.1515/9781400846382Google Scholar
Kumar, Rahul. 2003. “Who Can Be Wronged?” Philosophy and Public Affairs 31 (2): 99–118. 10.1111/papa.2003.31.issue-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulgan, T. 2006. Future People. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/019928220X.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, E. A. 2006. Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 10.4337/9781845424718CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passmore, John. 1980. Man’s Responsibility for Nature. 2nd ed. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1996. Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Raz, Joseph. 1989. “Liberating Duties.” Law and Philosophy 8 (1): 3–21.Google Scholar
Scheffler, Samuel. 1997. “Relationships and Responsibilities.” Philosophy and Public Affairs. 26 (3): 189–209. 10.1111/papa.1997.26.issue-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Janna. 2009. Intergenerational Justice: Rights and Responsibilities in an Intergenerational Polity. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolf, Susan. 1992. “Morality and Partiality”. Philosophical Perspectives 6: 243–259. 10.2307/2214247CrossRefGoogle Scholar