Justice and Future Generations: Challenges and Theoretical Paradigms

What do we we owe to future persons if we are to build a society in which all people are treated as free and equal? Answering this question requires rethinking both theories of justice and theories of democracy. This is because while it seems plausible to hold that a just society should not privilege the interests of present persons alone, this intuition raises difficult questions. How can future people be represented in present decisions? Should their interests even be taken into account, given the deep uncertainty of the future? How can we treat as equals individuals who do not yet exist and may not even exist in the future? This special issue of the Rivista Italiana di Filosofia Politica aims to address these and related questions.