| Rights-based accounts of obligations to future generations suffer from a number of theoretical difficulties, most notably the non-identity problem. A more fruitful way of understanding these obligations (if, indeed, there are any) is through the notion of imperfect obligations. Imperfect obligations are actions that are owed to others even when those others lack a corresponding right to demand those actions of us. One way of establishing that we do indeed have obligations of this nature to future generations can be illustrated by the incoherence of willing a principle of indifference toward future generations. Because we are finite rather than self-sufficient beings, we must rely on the cooperation of future generations in order to have our current projects succeed. |
