My work on the future distinguishes three ways in which philosophy can relate to it: philosophy about the future, philosophy with the future, and philosophy from the future. Philosophy about the future treats future worlds and future people as objects of philosophical reflection, for example in scenarios or debates about our obligations to future generations. Philosophy with the future tries to give future people a voice in present deliberation, for example through role-play or Future Design. Philosophy from the future reverses the perspective: it asks how our present assumptions, arguments and ways of life might appear from a future point of view.
I am particularly interested in the third approach. Instead of asking only what we should do for the future, it makes the present itself the object of imagined future reflection. This can expose assumptions that are almost invisible to us because we take them for granted. The method is not restricted to ethics: it can also be applied to questions about science, language, consciousness or philosophy itself. Tim Mulgan’s Ethics for a Broken World and Roger Willemsen’s Wer wir waren are important examples of this shift in perspective.
“Eine Stimme für die Menschen von morgen” (with Martin Weichold, 2024). In this paper we develop the idea in a didactic context. A role-play gives future people a representative voice in present discussion and allows students to explore climate-ethical questions from a perspective that is usually absent from the room. The exercise combines philosophical argument with a deliberate change of perspective and asks participants not only to consider future people as those affected by present decisions, but also as imagined participants in the debate.
My papers
- with Martin Weichold: “Eine Stimme für die Menschen von morgen: Ein klimaethisches Rollenspiel.” Zeitschrift für Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 4 (2024), pp. 39–46. Journal Website · PDF
