Purely_Theoretical t1_j9hk63u wrote
> libertarianism adopts a person-affecting view, whereby the moral status of an act depends on the rights and consent only of affected living people.
Is this an axiom or a conclusion? If axiom, it is a strawman. If conclusion, a non sequitur.
> To give future people rights under libertarianism would already be accepting a hypothetical social contract since future people cannot actually consent.
This is a non sequitur. Pure libertarian principles confer rights and obligations to people where it might be known who the victim will be, and exactly what will happen to him, but it might be temporarily impossible to communicate with him. Or it might be known that some person or other will be the victim of an act, but it might be impossible to find out which person. This naturally extends to future generations.
You may also consider the scifi case where a man does not exist today, but will miraculously exist tomorrow. In such a case, it is immoral to build a trap that would kill the man when he materializes.
contractualist OP t1_j9hqt1g wrote
It wouldn’t give them the right to have gains preserved for them. That’s not a right I have heard from any libertarian theory. So long as the lockean proviso is met, there is no duty to benefit the future. And future people wouldn’t accept such a lottery.
Purely_Theoretical t1_j9hslce wrote
That paper is proof you are wrong about the lockean proviso and wrong in your conclusion.
contractualist OP t1_j9hvdij wrote
Again, the paper just argues a Lockean proviso. Not the best deal future people would be getting.
Purely_Theoretical t1_j9hx34u wrote
The entire point of that paper is to give a libertarian justification for having concern for future generations. Namely it extends the lockean proviso to them. I summarized the paper in my first comment.
Therefore, libertarianism does not fail to account for future generations. This is your false claim and I have refuted it.
contractualist OP t1_j9hyfdl wrote
(Up to the lockean proviso, which I state in the post. This is too minimal to be substantive).
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