How should utilitarians think about the future?
Abstract
Utilitarians must think collectively about the future because many contemporary moral issues require collective responses to avoid possible future harms. But current rule utilitarianism does not accommodate the distant future. Drawing on my recent books Future People and Ethics for a Broken World, I defend a new utilitarianism whose central ethical question is: What moral code should we teach the next generation? This new theory honours utilitarianism’s past and provides the flexibility to adapt to the full range of credible futures – from futures broken by climate change to the digital, virtual and predictable futures produced by various possible technologies.
Citation
Mulgan , T 2017 , ' How should utilitarians think about the future? ' , Canadian Journal of Philosophy , vol. 47 , no. 2-3 , pp. 290-312 . https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2017.1279517
Publication
Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0045-5091Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2017, Canadian Journal of Philosophy. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2017.1279517
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