Intergenerational Justice

by Axel Gosseries, Lukas H. Meyer

Overview

Is it fair to leave the next generation a public debt? Is it defensible to impose legal rules on them through constitutional constraints? From combating climate change to ensuring proper funding for future pensions, concerns about ethics between generations are everywhere. In this volume sixteen philosophers explore intergenerational justice. Part One examines the ways in which various theories of justice look at the matter. These include libertarian, Rawlsian, sufficientarian, contractarian, communitarian, Marxian and reciprocity-based approaches. In Part Two, the authors look more specifically at issues relevant to each of these theories, such as motivation to act fairly towards future generations, the population dimension, the formation of preferences through education and how they impact on our intergenerational obligations, and whether it is fair to rely on constitutional devices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199659326
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/17/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Axel Gosseries is a Permanent Research Fellow at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS), based at the Chaire Hoover d'ethique economique et sociale (Université catholique de Louvain). He also lectures at the universities of Louvain and St-Louis (Brussels).

Lukas Meyer is Assistenzprofessor fur Praktische Philosophie at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Intergenerational Justice and Its Challenges, Axel Gosseries and Lukas H. MeyerPart I : Theories1. Identity and Obligation in a Transgenerational Polity, Janna Thompson2. Libertarian Theories of Intergenerational Justice, Hillel Steiner & Peter Vallentyne3. A Contract on Future Generations?, Stephen M. Gardiner4. Three Models of Intergenerational Reciprocity, Axel Gosseries5. Exploitation and Future Generations, Christopher Bertram6. A Value or an Obligation? Rawls on Justice to Future Generations, David Heyd7. A Trans-Generational Difference Principle, Daniel Attas8. Enough for the Future, Lukas H. Meyer and Dominic RoserPart II : Specific Issues9. Wronging Future People, Rahul Kumar10. What Motivates Us to Care for the (Distant) Future?, Dieter Birnbacher11. Preference Formation and Intergenerational Justice, Krister Bykvist12. Egalitarianism and Population Change, Gustaf Arrhenius13. Intergenerational Justice, Human Needs, and Climate Policy, Clark Wolf14. The Problem of a Perpetual Constitution, Victor M. Muniz-Fraticelli