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Future ethics: risk, care and non-reciprocal responsibility

Groves, Christopher Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5873-1119 2009. Future ethics: risk, care and non-reciprocal responsibility. Journal of Global Ethics 5 (1) , pp. 17-31. 10.1080/17449620902765286

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Abstract

As the number of intrinsically unknowable technologically produced risks global society faces continues to grow, it is evident that the question of our responsibilities towards future people is of urgent importance. However, the concepts with which this question is generally approached are, it is argued, deficient in comprehending the nature of these risks. In particular, the individualistic language of rights presents severe difficulties. An alternative understanding of responsibility is required, which, it is argued, can be developed from phenomenological and feminist concepts of care. Such concepts privilege an understanding of human beings that is primarily relational rather than individualistic, and show that responsibility is, in the first place, about connection rather than respecting separation. Care, by opening up for us an understanding of the diversity of values that are constitutive of a worthwhile life, also connects us to the future as the future of care. As such, it provides us with ethical resources that can guide us in the face of uncertainty, including general principles of action and the desire for institutions that can articulate them.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Law
Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
Uncontrolled Keywords: care ethics; Hans Jonas; intergenerational ethics; responsibility; risk; uncertainty
Publisher: Routledge
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 04 May 2023 06:01
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/5337

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