What do we owe future people?
Shortlisted in the John Locke Essay Competition The first and most fundamental difference between future people and present people is “existence.” Present people exist; future people do not yet exist. And thus, the primary question of the difference between the moral obligations towards future people and present people is an existential one: Do we have a moral obligation to ensure that future people exist? Article 3 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration states everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the security of person. However, this seemingly inarguable statement is cloaked in grey when the additional context of future people is introduced. If “everyone” includes future people as well, then the definition of “life” is the crux of the issue. Is the right to life the narrower definition of sustaining life? Or is it the broader definition of obtaining life, or receiving life? Is the right to life a right to obtain life, like the right to education is the right to obtain an ed...
