Stephanie Kane
Phil 100-001
Professor Howard
11/22/08
What do We Owe the Future Generations?
When most humans imagine their life and what the future holds, they do not think
about posterity. Instead most can only see what’s right in front of them, their own future. So
what do we owe the people who will come after us? What did the people who came before us
leave for us? Should we leave the world as it, instead of a better place than we found it?
Robert Heilbroner, a recent professor at the New School for Social business and author of many
books, makes a prominent argument in his article “What Has Posterity Ever Done for Me?”, that
we need to have faith in the future and we do need to protect all that we can for posterity.
Posterity, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is all succeeding generations or all of a
person’s descendents. Heilbroner asks the question “Would we care enough for posterity to
pay the price for its survival?” So can we think about our children’s children’s children and are
we willing to pay for the survival of their generations? There are lots of questions and very few
definite answers.
When thinking about the future, many young people are pessimistic because of the
world today. There are so many people that are so focused on their own future that they
neglect to see what will happen to their children’s world when they become their own age.
There are also many different reasons that people would look to preserve the world for
posterity. Some believe it is only fair to posterity to provide them with a world very similar to
the one we live in, some believe it is the Lord’s will, some do it because of their own children.
But what many people fail to realize is that by providing a future that is better for our
descendents, we are providing ourselves with a happier and more productive present (article
4).
Numerous people are growing more and more self-absorbed. That change started
happening almost two generations ago. The children to come are obviously not here on earth
yet, and therefore they have no control over our decisions and cannot even challenge the
decisions we make, which makes the questions on why we should care about their lives to
come anyways. The next generation cannot ever “collect our debt to them.” They are not able
to control anything we do, anything we say, anything that happens that might affect them
because they are not here to do so (Lowenthal 15).
Heilbroner states that many people do not have the capacity to understand why we
need to care for the future generations. Heilbroner focuses mainly on how there is no
argument based on reason as to why we should care about posterity. It is based upon emotion
and what we feel. We must have faith, we must have strength, and we must have hope
(Heilbroner 910). We must not just focus on the things we can see, or the things that we know.
We must focus on what we feel for our future grandchildren, our future families whether we
are here on earth or not. “We owe posterity our best efforts to make it a good one” (Wagar
50). We must try our hardest to provide the best world that we can for the future generations.
In his article, Heilbroner establishes that religion can play a position in posterity because
you will not just change what you believe because someone gave a solid argument against it. It
is not based upon reason or rationally. The argument will not persuade or should not persuade
our beliefs or our faith. We believe what we want, and if we have a strong sense of faith or
spirituality, many will not change what they believe just because one argument was presented.
We have to have faith that either God or even humans themselves will help provide a better
world for the future (Heilbroner 912).
In her article, Kristian Skagen Ekeli thinks that we should establish a new constitutional
amendment to be sure that posterity has everything that we have or more. Her main idea is
that the natural resources that we use most should be saved for the future. She and Heilbroner
both note that our resources will run out, whether they be wood, oil, coal, or food. Heilbroner
and Ekeli both believe in economic posterity and that saving the natural resources should be
our main concern when it comes to the future (Ekeli 385).
Utilitarianism is the most similar code of ethics that relates to Heilbroner’s ideals
because it pushes for the most amount of good done for the most amount of people.
Heilbroner just happens to believe that the future is greater than the present. Posterity
requires us to look beyond who we are and see into the future and what we can do for it.
Although Heilbroner provides many strong reasons why posterity should be one of our
main concerns today, there are reasons as to why it shouldn’t be. One of the main arguments
as to why we should care less about posterity and more about ourselves is because the future
generations are not here, they are not here to say anything against what we are deciding. We
also do not know what they want and preparing for something that we do not know can seem
rather unimportant. Also we do not know what or how much of the natural resources they
want, so that also seems insignificant.
But these arguments against posterity are not enough to prevent us from caring. I
believe that posterity should be a concern, not just because of the natural resources but
because my generation is already predicting that our lives will be worse than our grandparents
who have faced harder times than we have yet to face (Lowenthal 20). I cannot imagine not
caring about the future. Whenever I think about my future I mainly think about how bad it will
be. I am expecting the worst but still hoping for the best. It seems to be the only way that I can
think about the future. I cannot think that my future will be any better than today because
everybody seems to only think of themselves. The sad thing is that I myself am not willing to
pay the price that I know that I need to pay to provide a better future. Many teenagers are not
willing to pay that price. I feel that no one can imagine their life without certain amenities. But
to provide for the future, we must be willing to sacrifice a little.
What does the future hold? No one really knows and many do not care. I think that
posterity should be considered in all decisions being made but many people do not agree.
Posterity is important and should be important in everyone’s lives because their families will be
part of that future. The family they love so dearly will be a part of the future that no one is
looking forward too.
Works Cited
Ekeli, Kristian Skagen. "Green Constitutionalism: The Constitutional Protection of Future
Generations." Ratio Juris 20.3 (Sep. 2007): 378-401. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO.
Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Todd Wehr Memorial Library. 22 Nov. 2008
<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=26054838&site=eh
ost-live>.
Heilbroner, Robert. “What Has Posterity Ever Done for Me?.” The Moral Life: And Introductory
Reader in Ethics and Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Louis P. Pojman and Louis Vaugn. New York:
Oxford, 2007. 910-914.
Lowenthal, David. "Stewarding the future." Norwegian Journal of Geography 60.1 (Mar. 2006):
15-23. Academic Search Premier. Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, Todd Wehr
Memorial Library. 22 Nov. 2008
<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=20380096&site=eh
ost-live>.
Wagar, W. Warren. = "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow." Technology Review
(00401692) 96.3 (Apr. 1993): 50. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Viterbo University,
La Crosse, Wisconsin, Todd Wehr Memorial Library.
<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct3Dtrue&db3Daph&
;AN3D9303160598&site3Dehost-live>.