The question of What We Owe to Future Generations has accurately been described as "mind-bending" in its difficulty, and yet it is a question of profound importance for central decisions of how we should best live, how we should make procreative decisions, and how we should deal with the problems of climate change. In this wise, well-informed and judicious book, Elizabeth Finneron-Burns approaches theseehon issues with skill and clarity, taking an approach that is rooted in the contractualist ethical theory of T. M. Scanlon. Everyone interested in the ethical questions generated by our relationship to future people will find this book informative, thoughtful and stimulating.
Elizabeth Finneron-Burns is Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the University of Western Ontario and an affiliated researcher at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm. Her work on intergenerational ethics and the ethics of human extinction has been published in various journals including Utilitas, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, and Ethical Theory and Moral Practice.