IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v20y1988i11p1507-1522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Philosophical Aspects of 500-Year Planning

Author

Listed:
  • B E Tonn

    (Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory†, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA)

Abstract

A class of environmental problems, termed 500-year problems, poses significant threats to the world's societies. In 500-year planning there is a need for a sound philosophical foundation to guide the development of appropriate methods which analyze problems that cover very long time periods and that involve large uncertainties. In this paper philosophical aspects of 500-year planning, related to determining whether present generations are meeting their obligations to future generations, are addressed. Topics discussed include the treatment of future populations (as identifiable individuals or as enumerable groups) and the appropriate base for 500-year planning (utilitarianism or social contract theory). Adopting Rawls's concepts of the original position and of the veil of ignorance, a social contract is developed that guarantees the possibility of existence for all potential individuals, and sets limits on the risks that current and future populations might endure as a result of their ancestors' abuse of the environment. The specifics of the contract represent rational criteria upon which to base 500-year planning activities.

Suggested Citation

  • B E Tonn, 1988. "Philosophical Aspects of 500-Year Planning," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 20(11), pages 1507-1522, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:20:y:1988:i:11:p:1507-1522
    DOI: 10.1068/a201507
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a201507
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a201507?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aaron Wildavsky, 1982. "Pollution as Moral Coercion: Culture, Risk Perception, and Libertarian Values," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 2(1), pages 305-333, Spring.
    2. Bruce Headey & Elsie Holmström & Alexander Wearing, 1984. "The impact of life events and changes in domain satisfactions on well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 203-227, October.
    3. Barber, Benjamin R., 1975. "Justifying Justice: Problems of Psychology, Measurement, and Politics in Rawls," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 663-674, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Easterlin, Richard A., 2006. "Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 463-482, August.
    2. Mariano Rojas, 2006. "Life satisfaction and satisfaction in domains of life: is it a simple relationship?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 467-497, November.
    3. Catherine Daily & Janet Near, 2000. "Ceo Satisfaction and Firm Performance in Family Firms: Divergence between Theory and Practice," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 125-170, August.
    4. Welsch, Heinz & Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Green behavior, green self-image, and subjective well-being: Separating affective and cognitive relationships," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    5. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Frank Andrews, 1991. "Stability and change in levels and structure of subjective well-being: USA 1972 and 1988," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-30, August.
    7. Joseph Rode & Janet Near, 2005. "Spillover Between Work Attitudes and Overall Life Attitudes: Myth or Reality?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 79-109, March.
    8. Rojas, Mariano, 2008. "Experienced Poverty and Income Poverty in Mexico: A Subjective Well-Being Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1078-1093, June.
    9. Adrian Tomyn & Jacolyn Norrish & Robert Cummins, 2013. "The Subjective Wellbeing of Indigenous Australian Adolescents: Validating the Personal Wellbeing Index-School Children," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 1013-1031, February.
    10. Robert Cummins, 2010. "Subjective Wellbeing, Homeostatically Protected Mood and Depression: A Synthesis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, March.
    11. Adrian Tomyn & Robert Cummins & Jacolyn Norrish, 2015. "The Subjective Wellbeing of ‘At-Risk’ Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australian Adolescents," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 813-837, August.
    12. Mariano Rojas & Karen Watkins-Fassler, 2022. "Religious Practice and Life Satisfaction: A Domains-of-Life Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 2349-2369, June.
    13. Kant, Shashi & Vertinsky, Ilan & Zheng, Bin & Smith, Peggy M., 2014. "Multi-Domain Subjective Wellbeing of Two Canadian First Nations Communities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 140-157.
    14. Büchi, Moritz, 2022. "Knowledge and Well-Being in the Digital Society: Towards a Research Agenda," SocArXiv e8hfn, Center for Open Science.
    15. Luca Zanin, 2013. "Detecting Unobserved Heterogeneity in the Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being and Satisfaction in Various Domains of Life Using the REBUS-PLS Path Modelling Approach: A Case Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 281-304, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:20:y:1988:i:11:p:1507-1522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.