Parenting and Intergenerational Justice: Why Collective Obligations Towards Future Generations Take Second Place to Individual Responsibility |
| |
Authors: | M L J Wissenburg |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Political Science, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9108, 6500 HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
| |
Abstract: | Theories of intergenerational obligations usually take the shape of theories of distributive (social) justice. The complexities
involved in intergenerational obligations force theorists to simplify. In this article I unpack two popular simplifications:
the inevitability of future generations, and the Hardinesque assumption that future individuals are a burden on society but
a benefit to parents. The first assumption obscures the fact that future generations consist of individuals whose existence
can be a matter of voluntary choice, implying that there are individuals who are responsible and accountable for that choice
and for its consequences. The second assumption ignores the fact that the benefits and burdens of future individuals are complex,
and different for different “beneficiaries” or “victims.” Introducing individual responsibility for procreation as a (crucially)
relevant variable, and allowing a more sophisticated understanding of the impact of new individuals, generates grounds to
prioritize the individual’s interest in responsibility for (creating and equipping) future individuals over any collective
intergenerational obligation. I illustrate this by introducing a series of moral duties that take precedence over, and perhaps
even void, possible collective redistributive duties. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|