Justice Back and Forth: Duties to the Past and Future

by Richard Vernon

Overview

Ideas of justice have traditionally focused on what individuals owe to one another and have drawn our attention to what is considered fair – what one of us owes to another is justly matched by what the other owes to them. However, what does justice require us to do for past and future generations?

In Justice Back and Forth, award-winning author Richard Vernon explores the possibility of justice in cases where time makes reciprocity impossible. This “temporal justice” is examined in ten controversial cases including the duty to return historical artifacts, the ethics and politics of parenting, the punishment of historical offences, the right to procreate, and the imposition of constitutions on future citizens. By deftly weaving together discussions on historical redress and justice for future generations, Vernon reveals that these two opposing topics can in fact be used to illuminate each other. In doing so, he concludes that reciprocity can be adapted to serve intergenerational cases.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487510510
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	11/14/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Richard Vernon is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Political Science at Western University.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Looking Back

1.  Should We Worry About Presentism?

2. The Question of [Anyone’s] Guilt: Collective Liability to Punishment

3.  For Benefits Received

4.  Giving Back: The Case of Stolen Art

5.  Bad Memories

Part II: Going Forth

6.  The Prior Question: Assessing the Benatar Thesis

7.  Coming to Terms with Yoder

8.  Only Egalitarians May Have Children

9.  If the Future is a Foreign Country…

10.  The Rights of Past and Future Persons

Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Timothy Waligore

"Justice Back and Forth contains a number of insightful points and arguments while covering a vast amount of territory. It makes a significant and important contribution to the field."

Daniel Butt

"Richard Vernon draws on a richly eclectic range of sources in this clearly written, sophisticated, and rewarding book."

Editorial Reviews

" Justice Back and Forth: Duties to the Past and Future provides an excellent overview of issues faced when thinking about temporal justice. By addressing interesting and somewhat well-known problems, Richard Vernon exposes the reader to the current academic theory and literature on the topic, and adeptly links together considerations and solutions for both past and future conceptions of temporal justice."

—Brad Smith, Saskatchewan Law Review

"Embracing several philosophical sub-disciplines—political philosophy, ethics, and applied ethics – this book is an excellent exploration of the complexities of philosophical topics that are not often thought of together."

—Christine Overall, Queen's University, Journal of Moral Philosophy, vol 16

"Richard Vernon draws on a richly eclectic range of sources in this clearly written, sophisticated, and rewarding book."

—Daniel Butt, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University

" Justice Back and Forth contains a number of insightful points and arguments while covering a vast amount of territory. It makes a significant and important contribution to the field."

—Timothy Waligore, Department of Economics, History, and Political Science, Pace University

From the Publisher

"Justice Back and Forth: Duties to the Past and Future provides an excellent overview of issues faced when thinking about temporal justice. By addressing interesting and somewhat well-known problems, Richard Vernon exposes the reader to the current academic theory and literature on the topic, and adeptly links together considerations and solutions for both past and future conceptions of temporal justice."

Saskatchewan Law Review - Brad Smith

"Embracing several philosophical sub-disciplines—political philosophy, ethics, and applied ethics — this book is an excellent exploration of the complexities of philosophical topics that are not often thought of together."

Journal of Moral Philosophy, vol 16 - Christine Overall