Future Generations Workshop

Do future generations survive deontological distinctions?
Decision makers around the world are facing problems regarding global economy and consumption, climate change and environmental protection, and conflicting ideologies and war. The challenge is to come up with responses that are both morally justifiable and practically acceptable. This is complicated by the fact that these decisions will have a huge impact not only on present, but also on future generations’ lives.  How we ought to decide depends on whether permissions, or requirements, that reflect protections to other people apply equally to present and future persons. However, surprisingly little has been said so far about how deontological distinctions apply to decisions that affect future persons.  On the one hand, there is a recent debate in the literature on how we should conceptualise and justify future generations’ rights. On the other hand, there has been renewed interest in the debate on deontological distinctions. New lines of both criticism and defence have been put forward against the definition and normative relevance of deontological distinctions. However, these two exciting debates have not yet been brought together.  This workshop, taking place in Southampton, 6 September 2018, aims to close this gap. It provides a forum for researchers working on intergenerational justice and researchers working on deontological distinctions to present their research and exchange ideas to discuss questions that arise from relating these areas.

Speakers

Fiona Woollard, University of Southampton
Molly Gardner, Bowling Green State University
Tim Mulgan, University of Auckland / University of St. Andrews
Charlotte Unruh, University of Southampton
More details and how to register can be found here.