Harming Future Persons

Abstract

This collection of essays investigates the obligations we have in respect of future persons, from our own future offspring to distant future generations. It offers different understandings of the nonidentity problem and evaluates an array of proposed solutions to it. The book deeply probes particular concerns in areas ranging from the new reproductive technologies to the structure of morality, ranging from the practical (is it wrong to bring an impaired child into existence?) to the theoretical (can bad' acts be bad for’ no one?). Written by the most noted scholars and theorists amongst those working today on matters relating to future persons, it extends and applies the powerful work Derek Parfit commenced in his influential book Reasons and Persons.