REMARKS FOR A TRANSGENERATIONAL SOCIETY. BORDERS AND BONDS BETWEEN GENERATIONS1

Abstract

Should we be considered responsible (and if so, why) towards the species we belong to, in addition of being responsible for ourselves? Typically, the answers that are offered to this and similar questions, make reference to arguments based, alternatively, on the idea that things we have to care of are valuable for us, people like us, or per se. This talks develops a different perspective, based on the idea that in a lot of cases the responsibility is an obligation due not to the kind of value certain thing are supposed to have, but rather to the type of actions that social people and institutions generally perform. After discussing the metaphysical model of these actions, which I call ―transgenerationals‖, I will show the reason why transgenerational actions necessarily imply responsibility of one generation to the other. In a word, they require responsibility between generations and hence a particular sensitivity to the future. I also plan to show that transgenerationality is something that unites generations along with such a human ability as the memory