WHY CARE ABOUT FUTURE PEOPLE'S ENVIRONMENT? Jasmina Nedevska Törnqvist Why Care About Future People's Environment? Approaches to Non-Identity in Contractualism and Natural Law Jasmina Nedevska Törnqvist ©Jasmina Nedevska Törnqvist, Stockholm University 2018 ISBN print 978-91-7797-400-0 ISBN PDF 978-91-7797-401-7 ISSN 0346-6620 Illustration: Vladan Srdic, Studio360.si Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2018 To my mother, Anna-Lena. Contents 1Introduction: Why care about future people’s environment? ................ 13 1.1 Environmental intergenerational duties .............................................................. 15 1.2 Choice of theories ............................................................................................... 18 1.3 The non-identity problem .................................................................................... 23 1.4 The environmental case: further problems ......................................................... 26 1.5 Research questions ............................................................................................ 31 1.6 Methods .............................................................................................................. 35 1.6.1 Reflective equilibrium ................................................................................. 38 1.7 Outline of the thesis ............................................................................................ 42 2The non-identity problem revisited ....................................................... 45 2.1 Two (moral) versions of the problem .................................................................. 45 2.2 Dealing with the problem .................................................................................... 52 2.2.1 Asserting the problem ................................................................................ 53 2.2.2 Avoiding the problem ................................................................................. 54 2.2.3 Solving the problem (in a focal sense) ....................................................... 55 2.2.4 Circumventing the problem ........................................................................ 59 3Contractualism: the environment that cannot reasonably be rejected in the future ...................................................................................................... 69 3.1 Scanlon’s contractualism .................................................................................... 71 3.2 Does Depletion wrong actual future people? ...................................................... 74 3.3 Does Conservation wrong actual contemporaries? ............................................ 76 3.4 Does Depletion wrong possible future people? .................................................. 77 3.5 Scanlon makes it worse ...................................................................................... 78 3.6 Adhering to the personal reasons restriction ...................................................... 81 3.6.1 Risk ............................................................................................................ 81 3.6.2 Typed individuals 1 .................................................................................... 83 3.7 Violating the personal reasons restriction ........................................................... 86 3.7.1 Typed individuals 2 .................................................................................... 86 3.7.2 Types ......................................................................................................... 87 3.7.3 Relationships .............................................................................................. 88 3.7.4 The good .................................................................................................... 89 3.7.5 Groups ....................................................................................................... 90 3.8 A note on persons .............................................................................................. 91 3.9 Moving on from contractualism ........................................................................... 92 5 4Natural law: the environment that enables future participation in the good ............................................................................................................. 95 4.1 Natural law – a (brief) history .............................................................................. 96 4.1.1 The Ancients .............................................................................................. 96 4.1.2 Thomas Aquinas ........................................................................................ 99 4.2 Seven basic values ........................................................................................... 102 4.3 Natural law in moral theory – practical reasonableness ................................... 105 4.4 Requirements on agents .................................................................................. 107 4.5 Requirements on reasons ................................................................................ 109 4.5.1 Regard for basic values ........................................................................... 109 4.5.2 Regard for persons .................................................................................. 110 4.6 Natural law’s basic argument ........................................................................... 111 4.7 Objection 1: It is too vague ............................................................................... 112 4.8 Objection 2: It is too weak ................................................................................ 118 4.9 Requirements on acts ....................................................................................... 119 4.9.1 Efficiency, within reason ........................................................................... 119 4.9.2 Respect for every basic value in every act ............................................... 119 4.9.3 Natural law’s wrongdoing argument (specified) ....................................... 121 4.10 Objection 3: It excludes institutional responses .............................................. 122 5The institutional non-identity problem ................................................. 125 5.1 Future people’s environment and public institutions ......................................... 127 5.2 The institutional non-identity problem ............................................................... 129 5.3 Three kinds of subsidiarity principle ................................................................. 133 5.3.1 Efficiency-based subsidiarity .................................................................... 133 5.3.2 Freedom-based subsidiarity ..................................................................... 135 5.3.3 Justice-based subsidiarity ........................................................................ 135 6Contractualism: the environmental politics that can reasonably be accepted by all ........................................................................................... 139 6.1 Circumstances of justice ................................................................................... 140 6.2 The original position and future generations .................................................... 143 6.3 Care for one’s descendants .............................................................................. 146 6.4 Two universalization attempts .......................................................................... 148 6.5 An elaboration of the original position .............................................................. 151 7Natural law: the environmental politics of an intergenerational community .................................................................................................. 157 7.1 Natural law in political and legal theory ............................................................ 158 7.2 Possible natural law approaches to INIP .......................................................... 160 7.3 The four orders of community ........................................................................... 162 7.4 Intergenerational community – some pitfalls .................................................... 166 7.5 Dante as a prime example ................................................................................ 169 7.6 Intergenerational community and the environment .......................................... 172 6 8Summary and conclusive discussion: Approaches to non-identity in contractualism and natural law .................................................................. 175 8.1 Contractualism and the wrongdoing problem ................................................... 178 8.2 Natural law and the basic non-identity problem ................................................ 179 8.3 Natural law and the wrongdoing problem ......................................................... 181 8.4 Contractualism and the institutional non-identity problem ................................ 183 8.5 Natural law and the institutional non-identity problem ...................................... 184 8.6 Duties without rights in natural law ................................................................... 186 8.7 How strong are intergenerational duties? ........................................................