Whether the planet that we leave behind for future generations will be ecologically sustainable or not depends on a number of factors – and current and future population size is one of them. Although this claim makes many people uncomfortable, it is at the same time uncontested by the researchers who have investigated this issue. Yet little attention has been paid to the question whether this implies that we have demographic obligations to future generations. I will look at the precise normative content of that obligation, and analyze its implications for our personal procreative decisions, for demographic policies, for the characteristics of development cooperation and for our endorsement/rejection of demographic social norms.  The most difficult philosophical question that this enquiry raises, is whether we should see the environmental impact of creating children morally on a par with other actions that have environmental impact. Is procreation ‘special’, or should it just be part of the environmental calculus of how much environmental impact we can have on the Earth?

Lecturer: Prof. dr. Ingrid Robeyns
Location: Sweelinckzaal, Drift 21 Utrecht.
Please register before November 21st with: M.D.Davidson@uva.nl.

This lecture is part of the colloquium series on Environmental Philosophy.