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Intergenerational Risks

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Handbook of Risk Theory

Abstract

Intergenerational risks are intuitively defined as long-term threats of harm that will affect future people. The nonidentity problem, however, challenges our ability to accept this definition. This chapter offers an interpretation of intergenerational risks as threats of de dicto harm or as threats of harmful conditions (drawing on distinctions made by Casper Hare and Joel Feinberg, respectively). One of the challenges of intergenerational risks may be understood, following Stephen Gardiner, as the fact that it may never be a generation’s interest to engage in an intergenerational cooperative scheme. This may make promoting intergenerational risks tempting when, for example, such risks involve a deferment of potentially harmful outcomes. A challenge for intergenerational ethics is how to understand which intergenerational risks are morally acceptable and which are not. Several (usually implicit) approaches to addressing intergenerational risks are discussed including economic approaches, precautionary principles, and intergenerational justice. The chapter calls for much more work to be done to better understand the challenges posed by intergenerational risks. Despite the fact that intergenerational risks abound in today’s increasingly globalized world, we – as a society – do not yet grasp the complexity of intergenerational risks or how we should address them.

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Acknowledgment

I began thinking about intergenerational risks during my undergraduate studies at Connecticut College. I am indebted to Derek Turner for his work with me on my undergraduate thesis as well as his continued support, guidance, and comments on an earlier draft of this chapter. I am also indebted to Stephen Gardiner who made this chapter possible and whose insightful comments added depth to my discussion. My graduate dissertation committee, Debra Satz, Joshua Cohen, Tamar Schapiro, and Stephen Schneider, also provided me with guidance and support that greatly influenced my work in this chapter. I am grateful for having had such amazing and inspiring mentors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program on Values in Society, University of Washington, Box 353337, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Dr. Lauren Hartzell-Nichols

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  1. Dr. Lauren Hartzell-Nichols
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Correspondence to Lauren Hartzell-Nichols .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy Department Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Sabine Roeser

  2. Philosophy Department, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Sabine Roeser

  3. Human Technology Center, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Rafaela Hillerbrand

  4. Department of Plant Physiology and Forest Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Per Sandin

  5. Section for Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Martin Peterson

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Hartzell-Nichols, L. (2012). Intergenerational Risks. In: Roeser, S., Hillerbrand, R., Sandin, P., Peterson, M. (eds) Handbook of Risk Theory. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1433-5_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1433-5_37

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1432-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1433-5

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