What future for future generations? A Whiteheadian intergenerational perspective

Abstract

During the early eighties, when I decided to carry out my research on the "future generations issue" for my postgraduate studies at the Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium, I was completely unaware of the fact that I was embarking on a theme which would feature so prominently in the future social agenda of international fora. At that time, I found few explicit publications on future generations to work upon. The paucity of resources is attested to by the poor reaction to The American Philosophical Association's request, in the February 1973 issue of its Bulletin, to contribute on the topic: "Can it be asserted that future generations have rights, for example, to pure air?" The response raised two second-order questions: (i) why did the participants find so little explicit discussion of the problem to work upon? (ii) why do we find so much interest in it now? An immediate answer suggests itself. The problem has only become real recently. In fact, it was during the late seventies that the world community was awakened to a new social awareness which had remained marginal in its consciousness and conscientiousness for many decades. This was the awareness of the limits of growth. At that time, many began to realise that it was unrealistic to speak simply of progress, without taking very seriously into account the limitations of the natural resources, the ecological crisis, the dangerous consequences of modem technology, and the ever-growing double gap between some parts of the world and others, and between present and future generations. Without proper attention, future generations are in danger of becoming prisoners of unmanageable processes. As a result of today's heightened sensitivity to the finitude and fragility of our one and only Earth, as well as to the serious threats generated by current technology, our moral relationships with future generations have quite suddenly come to the forefront as an ethical dilemma. Questions previously asked by a few specialists have now become the concern of the public at large. What is the future of our one and only Earth? Does humankind have a future? If present trends continue, what kind of planet will be inherited by unborn generations? What quality of life will be enjoyed by posterity? Who can guarantee the future of the human species? Do we have any obligation at all to generations yet to be born? Do future generations have identifiable interests? Can future generations claim anything from us as their right? Certainly, the world community has now become quite conscious and conscientious about our unprecedented power to influence for better or for worse the quality of future life. In fact, the three major documents on development and environment signed by many Heads of States in June, 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit in Brazil, namely the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Climate Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, all endorse the concept of the present generations' responsibilities towards future generations. Moreover, UNESCO's General Conference, in its twenty-ninth session held in Paris in November, 1997, adopted a Declaration on Responsibilities of the Present Generations towards Future Generations. This declaration, which has a moral and ethical force rather than being a legal instrument, was the fruit of many years of discussions among experts and of consultations with member states. Furthermore, the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (known as the Bioethics Convention), developed by the Council of Europe and adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in November, 1996, affirms that progress in biology and medicine should be used for the benefit of present and future generations, and set up safeguards that guarantee to protect the identity of the human species.