Why Worry About Future Generations? (Uehiro Series in Practical Ethics)

by Samuel Scheffler

It may appear that my argument has an elitist character, because only those who are relatively affluent and well-educated can devote themselves to activities whose value depends on the assumption that humanity will survive. Most people don’t have the luxury of devoting themselves to such activities; they must work at unrewarding jobs, if they can find them, simply so that they themselves can survive. The value of these unrewarding activities would not be undermined by the prospect of humanity’s imminent disappearance. But rather than refuting my argument, this consideration reinforces it. It is true that relatively few people have the luxury of earning their living by engaging in activities they find independently rewarding. It is a privilege to be able to support oneself as a scientist or an artist or an athlete or an intellectual, or by performing any other type of labor that is intrinsically rewarding. But the fact that many people must work at unrewarding activities in order to survive—activities they do not independently value—tells us nothing about the character of the activities people do value or find rewarding. In particular, it does not show that the survival of future generations matters only to the rich or the privileged; it shows only that the rich and the privileged are more likely to be able to devote their lives to independently valuable activities. And it is only when our activities reflect our values that they are good indicators of what matters to us. We...