Abstract

In the paper I discuss the question of the justification for norms in the ethics of future , and the justification for actions based on these norms. The discussion is based on Dieter Birnbacher’s environmental ethics. The paper is also an attempt to explain complex mechanism of motivation. This mechanism plays an important role in constituting norms related to such values as future state of the natural environment or living conditions of future generations. I argue that within the ethics of future the internalist position can only be accepted in its weak version, and that it should be supplemented by some other motivational factors, external to morality. I argue that emotional factors not only persuade people to treat nature as a value, but they also exert influence on the cognitive component of human’s attitude towards nature. It is possible, then, that a given norm would not arise and that appropriate action would not be taken if the emotional components were missing. Such situation can take place especially when future goods and persons are seen as values. That is why within the ethics of future, as well as within the environmental ethics, the internalist position should be viewed critically from the point of view of anthropological and cultural factors. Key words D. BIRNBACHER, MOTIVATION, MORALITY, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS