Time and Ethics: the conceptual relationship between intergenerational, historical and intertemporal justice


Personnel


Status

Budget

Duration

05/2002 − 02/2005


Outline

Sustainable development is essentially the attempt to integrate conceptually and harmonize intergenerational justice with intragenerational justice. The debate regarding intergenerational justice is usually future-oriented. At the same time there is a debate concerning past-oriented historical justice, dealing with questions of how past events and acts that are regarded unjust now have to be and can be compensated (e.g. by reperations or by recision). Both lines of argument run parallel without taking notice of each other, although these approaches can be regarded as being the reverse of each other. In this project the question shall be answered: What can be learned from the discussion of historical justice for the dispute regarding intergenerational justice. The aim is to develop a consistent concept of intertemporal justice.

Publications

Unnerstall, H. (2003): INTERTEMPORALE GERECHTIGKEIT. In: Marcus Düwell und Klaus Steigleder (Hrsg.): Bioethik. Eine Einführung; Frankfurt a.M. 2003, S. 422-434

Unnerstall, H. (2003): DISCOUNTING − REFLECTIONS ON THE SCIENTIFIC AND THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF THE DEBATE. In: International Journal for Sustainable Development Vol. 6. Nr. 1 2003, Special Issue hg. von Konrad Ott und Ulrich Hampicke, S. 54-69

Project-oriented events

31.3.-2.4.2004: Workshop „Wissenschaft, Politik und Nachhaltigkeit − Der Prozess der umweltpolitischen Politikberatung aus philosophischer Perspektive“, Leipzig. Organisation: Johannes Schiller, Bernd Klauer, Kurt Jax, Rainer Manstetten, Herwig Unnerstall