Utilitarianism Essay Research Paper UtilitarianismThe concept of — страница 2

  • Просмотров 183
  • Скачиваний 5
  • Размер файла 15
    Кб

sacrifices for the sake of later generations. That is because it places no such demands-early generations need do nothing at all for later generations. Surely early generations have some duty to enable their successors to live better than themselves. An ideal of sustainability, or of a constant level of well-being through time, may be attractive to think of when starting from a high level of well-being. But, it is not so attractive when starting from a low level of well-being. There is nothing inspiring about a consistently maintained level of misery. Yet Barry’s view allows consistent misery to persist. It finds nothing objectionable in a sequence where the first generation passes on a very limited range of opportunities and resources to the next generation, and so on. Surely

this sequence of events is objectionable. There may not be as stringent a duty to improve conditions for future generations as utilitarianism claims, but there must be some such duty that exists. Personally, there has to be a middle between utilitarianism for future generations and Brian Barry’s egalitarian view. I feel that our so-called duty is only to make the conditions of future generations reasonably good. If people follow utilitarianism, then we will say that we have a duty to give future generations a reasonable quality of life through demanding sacrifices of ourselves. And if people followed Barry’s egalitarian view, then future generations may be stuck in the same rut as past generations. That is why a middle-road must be used. By taking these two ideas, then we can

see that each generation should pass on to its successors a range of opportunities that allows for a reasonable quality of life. However, it should not be seen as a duty. If it is seen as a duty, then most humans may be turned off by the prospect of taking care of their environment for future generations. If it is seen by humans that our environment is a precious jewel, then we will more than likely want to share it with our future generations. Works Cited [1] Brian Berry, “Intergenerational Justice in Energy Policy.” In D. MacLean and P. G. Brown, eds., Energy and the Future Totowa, NJ: Rowan and Littlefield, 1983 pp.274. Resources 1. Barry, Brian. “Intergenerational Justice in Energy Policy,” in D. MacLean and P. G. Brown, eds., Energy and the Future Totowa, NJ: Rowan

and Littlefield, 1983. 2. Danielson, Peter. “Personal Responsibility,” in H. Coward and T. Hurka, eds., Ethics and Climate Change: The Greenhouse Effect Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier UP, 1993. 3. Sidgwick, Henry. The Methods of Ethics, 7th ed. London: Macmillan, 1907. 4. World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. 323