Nuovi diritti umani e nuovi soggetti: i diritti delle generazioni future

The thesis deals with the subjects of rights of future generations through both philosophical and legal perspective. The Introduction considers the phenomenon of new subjects in legal theory and, more widely, the outbreak of new human rights related to the technological development. The First Chapter faces the problem of the definition of “future generations” and identifies three different approaches. The first one, the “Remotist” approach, defines “future generations” just as the future humankind extremely distant from the present time. The second, the “Proximist” approach, looks at “future generations” as a concept involving exclusively our direct descendants. The third one, the “Indeterminist” approach, includes the future progenies of all time, faraway and near. This last perspective is the one adopted along the thesis. The Second Chapter applies the results of the first one, trying to answer to the question about the possibility of recognizing a proper legal subjectivity to future generations. In this path, conceived and unborn babies have been included inside the definition. The Third Chapter discusses the theories that deny both subjectivity and rights of future generations. The last Chapter examines, instead, the philosophical conceptions that affirm the relevance of Futures’ interests or the proper legal dimensions of future generations, considered as subjects with proper rights. As a first step, I studied the origin of the future generations theory in a theological perspective; then, I investigated the relations among the Intergenerational Responsibility and Contractualism, Utilitarianism and Hans Jonas philosophy. The Conclusion has been conceived both as a resumé of the research and as an “open ending”, in which I indicate the directions the work will be developed in the future. Notably, I studied the “Declaration of Rights for Future Generation” – redacted under the UNESCO’s aegis – and the problem of the Human Rights Proliferations.