Paper's abstract

Jean-Yves Goffi, The Addressee of the Obligation: the Case of Future Generations
After recalling, in the light of W. N. Hohfled's analysis, what the concept of rights may mean, it is shown that the notion of obligations towards future generations is more understandable in a theory basing rights on the ownership of interests than in a theory tracing them up to the expression of a will. Yet approaching the issue from this point of view brings up the following paradox: today's generation has the obligation to take into account the interests of future generations without, for that matter, being under the obligation to see to it that future generations come into existence. One concludes that the obligation towards future generations can only be conditional.

Key Words : obligation, future generation, Hohfled
t. 44, 2000 : p. 233-240

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