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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Intergenerational Bargains: Negotiating Our Debts To The Past And Our Obligations To The Future, Mark W. Anderson
Intergenerational Bargains: Negotiating Our Debts To The Past And Our Obligations To The Future, Mark W. Anderson
Publications
The question of intergenerational obligation can be framed in multiple ways. Here, we use the idea of bargains to think about how those of us in the present relate to both the past and the future. To understand this approach assumptions behind the idea of intergenerational bargains are posited, three potential ontologies for intergenerational thinking are explored, and principles that might be applied to intergenerational obligations are considered. Finally, an ethic for intergenerational obligation is proposed. The idea of intergenerational bargains reveals common frameworks among futures studies, ecological economics, and sustainability science.
Giving Voice To The Future In Sustainability: Retrospective Assessment To Learn Prospective Stakeholder Engagement, Mark W. Anderson, Mario F. Teisl, Caroline L. Noblet
Giving Voice To The Future In Sustainability: Retrospective Assessment To Learn Prospective Stakeholder Engagement, Mark W. Anderson, Mario F. Teisl, Caroline L. Noblet
Publications
There is a broad understanding that intergenerational equity is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for sustainability. Likewise, there is a growing consensus that sustainability science requires stakeholder engagement to be successful. These two ideas demand some meaningful way of engaging the future as a stakeholder if sustainability is to be operationalized. Rawls' theory of justice provides a model for how this might be accomplished, yet there are both conceptual and practical problems with a Rawlsian approach. We propose using retrospective assessment as a means of learning how to approach future stakeholder engagement in sustainability.