A Critique of Arguments Against Taking Future Generations Into Account

A Critique of Arguments Against Taking Future Generations Into Account In doing the readings for this week, I noticed that there were few arguments in favor of ignoring concern for future generations. A large percentage of the authors seemed to feel that it is our moral responsibility to at least take the well being of future generations into account in our decision-making (Note: these authors also provided us with powerful arguments as to why we have a moral obligation to future generations). In trying to figure out why there were so few arguments on the other side of the issue, I realized that there simply aren't many ways to argue against our moral responsibility to future peoples. I would like to briefly address the weaknesses in arguments which suggest that we should not factor the well-being of future generations into our decision-making. I would then like to address the issue of whether providing for future peoples will result in problems for the present generation. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I will discuss a weakness which I found in all of the articles, which is: in talking so much about future concerns,it can be easy to lose track of the immediacy of environmental concerns for generations who are already alive. The only real arguments which we read against concern for future peoples were found in the Heilbroner article. Heilbroner quotes two different economists, both of whom seem to raise the same question: why should I care how long the human species lives? One of the economists states that we cant necessarily say that generations who are yet unborn are any better off if they are born than if they are not (quoted in Pojman 277). The... ..., I critiqued the two economists quoted in Heilborns article. To return to them for a minute, both men seemed to miss the point which I just mentioned -- the environmental crisis is not simply a matter of whether or not humans survive. Instead, it is a matter of how we are able to live over the next couple of centuries (and possibly beyond). Will the world continue to be plagued by rising cancer rates? Will the air be adequate to breathe without developing illness or asthma? Will our children have forests to play in? The answer to these questions lies clearly in our hands and in our willingness to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Regardless of whether the consequences will occur in twenty minutes, three days or a year, we must be willing to face up to reality instead of always turning to look the other way.