Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between Generations Indigenous, African, Asian, and Western Perspectives
Book contents
- Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between Generations
- Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between Generations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Indigenous Philosophies on Justice between Generations
- 1 Indigenous Philosophy and Intergenerational Justice
- 2 Climate Ethics and Intergenerational Reciprocity in Indigenous Philosophies
- 3 Intergenerational Justice and the Environment in Africa
- 4 Reasonabilism, Homeostasis and Intergenerational Justice in African Thought
- Part II Intergenerational Ethics in Dialogue with Confucianism and Daoism
- Part III Humanity Facing the Near Environmental Future
- Index
- References
3 - Intergenerational Justice and the Environment in Africa
from Part I - Indigenous Philosophies on Justice between Generations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2024
Book contents
- Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between Generations
- Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between Generations
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Indigenous Philosophies on Justice between Generations
- 1 Indigenous Philosophy and Intergenerational Justice
- 2 Climate Ethics and Intergenerational Reciprocity in Indigenous Philosophies
- 3 Intergenerational Justice and the Environment in Africa
- 4 Reasonabilism, Homeostasis and Intergenerational Justice in African Thought
- Part II Intergenerational Ethics in Dialogue with Confucianism and Daoism
- Part III Humanity Facing the Near Environmental Future
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter, I will examine how Africans envision their futures and promote intergenerational justice. In African worldviews, a community is comprised of three generations: the living dead, the living, and the yet-to-be-born. The three generations are interconnected. The current generation should owe a debt of gratitude to its forbears for leaving a usable environment behind and fulfilling its moral obligation towards future generations. In the African worldview, successive generations share the environment (the land). According to African intergenerational ethics, natural resources ought not to be exploited beyond their limit, and the land ought to be taken care of for the benefit of present and future human generations, as well as for the good of non-human species. The Oromo of Ethiopia and other cultural groups in Africa do not simply consider justice, integrity, and respect as human virtues applicable to human beings, but they extend them to non-human species and Mother Earth. Thus, I argue that intergenerational thinking can help humanity to address both local and global environmental problems.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Intercultural Philosophy and Environmental Justice between GenerationsIndigenous, African, Asian, and Western Perspectives, pp. 59 - 74Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
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