Odpowiedzialność za nieistniejących?

Wojciech Lewandowski

Wojciech Lewandowski Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Wydział Filozofii

Słowa kluczowe: odpowiedzialność, przyszłe pokolenia, teoria etyczna

Abstrakt

The article is concerned with the possibility of formulating moral judgments with respect to actions whose results may influence the quality of life, existence, number and identity of the future people. Because of the problems connected with defining the addressees and the reasons of responsibility for future generations on the ground of the ethical theories existing now, new theories are formulated on the basis of the so-called impersonal or personal premises. According to the impersonal theories moral evaluations are based on the final assessment of all the effects of the action, whose total value may be defined as a positive or negative state of affairs. According to the representatives of personal theories, the question whether an action has a beneficial or a harmful effect on the addressee of the action, is the main criterion of the moral evaluation. Since there is no satisfactory justification for the responsibility for the future generations, both in personal and impersonal theories argumentation is analyzed that is based on a predicted responsibility for the people who will exist in the future.

Bibliografia

Arrhenius G.: An Impossibility Theorem for Welfarist Axiologies, „Economics and Philosophy” 16 (2000), s. 247-266.

Arrhenius G.: Future Generations. A Challenge for Moral Philosophy, FD-Diss., Uppsala University, Dept. of Philosopy, Uppsala: University Printers 2000.

Birnbacher D.: Odpowiedzialność za przyszłe pokolenia, tłum. B. Andrzejewski, P. Jackowski, Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa 1999.

Cowen T.: What Do We Learn from the Repugnant Conclusion?, „Ethics” 106 (1996) s. 754-775.

Heyd D.: Genethics. Moral Issues in the Creation of People, Berkeley–Los Angeles–Oxford: University of California Press 1992.

Holtug N.: Person-affecting Moralities, [w:] J. Ryberg, T. Tännsjö (red.), The Repugnant Conclusion. Essays on Population Ethics, Dordrecht–Boston–London: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004, s. 129-161.

Jonas H.: Zasada odpowiedzialności, tłum. M. Klimowicz, Kraków: Platan 1996.

Kavka G.: The Paradox of Future Individuals, „Philosophy and Public Affairs” 11 (1981/82), s. 93-112.

Moore G.E.: Zasady etyki, tłum. Cz. Znamierowski, Warszawa: DeAgostini i Altaya 2003.

Mulgan T.: Future people. A Moderate Consequentialist Account for Our Obligations to Future Generations, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2006.

Narveson J.: Utilitarianism and New Generations, „Mind” 76 (1967), s. 62-72.

Narveson J.: Moral Problems of Population, „Monist” 57 (1973), s. 62-86.

O’Neill O.: Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007.

Parfit D.: Reasons and Persons, Oxford: Clarendon Press 1987.

Rawls J.: Teoria sprawiedliwości, tłum. F. Panufnik, J. Pasek, A. Romaniuk, Warszawa: PWN 1994.