Abstract
The contention that future people have interests and rights that we are obligated to respect is not new and did not originate in modern 'environmentalist' sensibilities. It received an early airing two centuries ago from thinkers as disparate as Kant, Burke, and Thomas Jefferson. I deal in the main with Jefferson's claim that 'the earth belongs in usufruct to the living' and its implications for protecting posterity's interests, and secondarily with ideas about intergenerational relations in Kant, Burke, and Paine. That these ideas had their origins in a decidedly different political context - namely, in reactions to and reflections upon the French Revolution - does not preclude their being recycled and reused in our own day for quite different purposes.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 61-77 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Environmental Politics |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - 2000 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science
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'The earth belongs to the living' : Thomas Jefferson and the problem of intergenerational relations. / Ball, T.
In: Environmental Politics, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2000, p. 61-77.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - 'The earth belongs to the living'
T2 - Thomas Jefferson and the problem of intergenerational relations
AU - Ball, T.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - The contention that future people have interests and rights that we are obligated to respect is not new and did not originate in modern 'environmentalist' sensibilities. It received an early airing two centuries ago from thinkers as disparate as Kant, Burke, and Thomas Jefferson. I deal in the main with Jefferson's claim that 'the earth belongs in usufruct to the living' and its implications for protecting posterity's interests, and secondarily with ideas about intergenerational relations in Kant, Burke, and Paine. That these ideas had their origins in a decidedly different political context - namely, in reactions to and reflections upon the French Revolution - does not preclude their being recycled and reused in our own day for quite different purposes.
AB - The contention that future people have interests and rights that we are obligated to respect is not new and did not originate in modern 'environmentalist' sensibilities. It received an early airing two centuries ago from thinkers as disparate as Kant, Burke, and Thomas Jefferson. I deal in the main with Jefferson's claim that 'the earth belongs in usufruct to the living' and its implications for protecting posterity's interests, and secondarily with ideas about intergenerational relations in Kant, Burke, and Paine. That these ideas had their origins in a decidedly different political context - namely, in reactions to and reflections upon the French Revolution - does not preclude their being recycled and reused in our own day for quite different purposes.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0033849848&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033849848
VL - 9
SP - 61
EP - 77
JO - Environmental Politics
JF - Environmental Politics
SN - 0964-4016
IS - 2
ER -