Does Intergenerational Justice Require Rising Standards of Living?

Does justice require genetic enhancements?

It is argued that justice in some cases provides a pro tanto reason genetically to enhance victims of the genetic lottery. Various arguments--both to the effect that justice provides no such reason and to the effect that while there may be such reasons, they are overridden by certain moral constraints--are considered and rejected. Finally, it is argued that justice provides stronger reasons to ...

Sustainability and Intergenerational Justice

As temporary custodians of the planet, those who are alive at any given time can do a better or worse job of handing it on to their successors. I take that simple thought to animate concerns about what we ought to be doing to preserve conditions that will make life worth living (or indeed liveable at all) in the future, and especially in the time after those currently alive will have died (‘fut...

Three Conceptions of Intergenerational Justice

Does reducing malaria improve household living standards?

Living in malaria-endemic regions places an economic burden on households even if they do not actually suffer an episode of malaria. Households living in endemic malarial regions are less likely to have access to economic opportunities and may have to modify agricultural practices and other household behaviour to adapt to their disease environment. Data from Vietnam demonstrate that reductions ...

Intergenerational Justice and the Chain of Obligation

The actions and decisions taken by the present generation will affect not only the welfare but also the composition of future generations. A number of authors have used this fact to bolster the conclusion that the present is only weakly obligated to provide for future welfare since in choosing between futures of poverty and abundance, we are not deciding the welfare of a welldefined group of fu...