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Lumer, Christoph --- "Principles of generational justice" [2006] ELECD 479; in Tremmel, Chet Joerg (ed), "Handbook of Intergenerational Justice" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Handbook of Intergenerational Justice

Editor(s): Tremmel, Chet Joerg

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845429003

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Principles of generational justice

Author(s): Lumer, Christoph

Extract:

2 Principles of generational justice
Christoph Lumer


Five principles of justice
Generational justice is justice in a particular area: it concerns the relation
between the generations. Hence in the simplest case, maxims of gener-
ational justice could be seen as the application of norms of general justice.
Yet there are numerous competing norms of justice, especially concerning
distributive justice (Lumer 1999b). There is, for instance, the achievement
principle: `To each one according to his achievements!', the principle of
needs: `To each one at least as much as to satisfy his or her basic needs!',
egalitarianism: `To all goods of equal quantity!', or a variety of norms of
sustainability such as: `Each generation shall only use as much renewable
resources as can be renewed within the period of usage and only as much
non-renewable resources as it can provide equivalent substitutes for!' These
norms are not only a confusing tangle but also in need of justification. Only
if such justifications are at hand may it be manifest which of these norms
can be seen as valid.
The first step of justification is to deduce such norms from even more
general and abstract moral principles behind them. In the following, five
such principles shall be presented, briefly demonstrated and differentiated
from other critically competing principles. Subsequently, it shall be exam-
ined what follows from them with respect to present problems of genera-
tional justice.

Principle 1: Ethical hedonism, welfare orientation
The welfare of human beings and more highly developed animals is ...


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