Empathy with Future Generations? A Historical Approach to Global Justice

Johannes Rohbeck

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Chapter 14 Empathy with Future Generations? A Historical Approach to Global Justice

In: Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

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Johannes Rohbeck

Johannes Rohbeck
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 178–202

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004398122_015

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Abstract

The central idea of this paper is that our contemporary historical awareness, which is turning increasingly towards future, is accessible to philosophical reflection. This raises issues about the need for a new Philosophy of History that refers less to past but more primarily to present and future problems. If a moral responsibility and even empathy for future generations is addressed thereby, the Philosophy of History goes hand in hand with Future Ethics. From the perspective of the Philosophy of History, the ‘responsibility for future generations’ needs to be discussed by referring to the relationship between successive generations. In the current state of Future Ethics, differing models for the understanding of the relationship of the present people to those of the future have evolved. The most basic model is the one of family care, which has the advantage of proximity to the lifeworld and empathy with the relatives, but is limited to the three generations living at the same time. The model of a dialogue between the present and the future generations and the one for constructing an intergenerational contract are also extremely widespread; these models may be extended into the remote future, but they remain fictive and abstract. Therefore, the problem is to find a model that is less fictive and, at the same time, may be related to the remote future. To complement these approaches, I propose the model of intergenerational heritage. This transcends the limited timeline of family care, and it is also more realistic than the constructions of a dialogue or a contract. Additionally, this model permits an available opening for the empathic handling of the inherited in the future.

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Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

Series: At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, Volume: 123

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004398122

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 24 May 2019

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Chapter 14 Empathy with Future Generations? A Historical Approach to Global Justice

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Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

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