Ethics of a Green Future: a Research Agenda

Abstract

This chapter discusses the foundations of a future-oriented rights-based approach. It sketches some questions regarding the political dimension of the topic. The chapter also discusses the ethical significance of risk and uncertainty, and outlines how those questions are related to issues of more general cultural and philosophical significance. Respect for the basic rights of people requires likewise that we ensure that future people are able to live an autonomous life and that current people are able to decide themselves about basic aspects of their life. Hence, there is a duty to implement democratic institutions worldwide for future generations to inherit. The chapter concludes with some methodological issues regarding the appropriate form of an ethical debate, and attempts to outline what an appropriate attitude towards an 'ethics of the future' might be. It is impossible to do justice to the problem without discussing quite fundamental questions of our understanding of politics, history and the place of human beings in the world.