A Daoist and Confucian Approach to the Environmental Right of Future Generations

This chapter will discuss the justifications for the environmental right of future generations based on Confucian and Daoist philosophies. In the two Eastern philosophical traditions, duties arise not from any calculus of interests (as in utilitarianism) or any laws that are discoverable by reason (as in natural law theories). Instead, the two Eastern traditions emphasize “Dao” or “lawfulness” in their philosophies. “Dao” is not only “the way its being what it is” (as in Daoism) but is also the highest principle for “the all-pervading unity” of the world (as in Confucianism). This chapter will argue that such awareness of “Dao” or the “lawfulness” of nature (including human nature) is what distinguishes the two Eastern traditions from most Western philosophies. The chapter will then show that, on one hand, from the perspective of Confucianism, the environmental right of future generations is justifiable only by the will of a virtuous person, which is a will determined in accordance with “Dao”. On the other hand, from the perspective of Daoism, the right, though determined by a virtuous person, should be understood in a less anthropocentric and a more naturalistic manner. The Daoist account will therefore offer a unique understanding of the relationship between the human species and nature that is particularly important in the discussion of the environmental right. In sum, in the Confucian and Daoist accounts of the right to be introduced in this chapter, the right cannot be justifiable independent of virtue. On the contrary, the right requires virtue and can only be determined by virtue.