Making such choices that will affect people yet to be born is tricky. And if we hadn’t acted in this way, there would be many people living relatively poorer lives. But, because of our choice, many people who might have lived are not born. As a result, a century from now, a relatively small population will have relatively good lives. Suppose we recognize that, since increase in population is one important cause of global warming, we should control birth rates. People are typically concerned with the welfare of their children, but what’s at stake here is something quite different: the moral concern with the welfare of historically distant people living at some point in the future.Ĭoncern for future generations is not easy to justify. Only recently has global warming become an important practical issue, so it’s not surprising that novel philosophical theorizing is called for now. It’s easy to see why the traditional philosophers Andina discusses - Spinoza, Hobbes, and Schopenhauer - didn’t focus on these issues. How, then, can a contract be made with people who don’t yet exist? What obligations, she asks, do we have to future generations? Contracts require the agreement of all parties involved. But it’s not obvious how this well-entrenched theorizing is to be applied to the problems Andina discusses in her book. John Rawls’s liberalism, to cite an influential recent development of that theorizing, argues that under certain circumstances inequalities are justified. According to traditional “social contract” theories, a just society is based upon a generally accepted agreement. That said, as Andina shows in detail, the challenging philosophical task is to justify this eminently plausible thesis. We believe that we should live responsibly and shouldn’t consume resources at the expense of future generations. Most of us believe that global warming is an extremely real problem, and want to do something about it. A Philosophy for Future Generations has four parts: an explanation of why the future matters a survey of the relevant philosophical literature a constructive analysis of philosophical responses and, finally, three applications of her analysis. Her blessedly brief and relentlessly lucid account offers a philosophical perspective on our situation. For this reason, at the very least, Tiziana Andina’s new book, translated by Antonella Emmi, deserves attention. Unless we act quickly and decisively, the lives of future generations are sure to be very grim. GLOBAL WARMING IS ARGUABLY the most important topic in the news right now.

Only time will tell book