Justice Across Generations: Rethinking Reciprocity Under Conditions of Uncertainty

Abstract

This introduction investigates the role of justice as reciprocity in intergenerational settings. It argues that the growing prominence of intergenerational framing in contemporary policy agendas is best understood in light of distinct questions emerging within the normative debate on intergenerational justice. Thus, a proper understanding of this subject requires a fine-grained analysis of three key dimensions, namely: analytical units (age groups vs. birth cohorts), temporal perspectives (lifetime vs. contemporaneous life stages), and scope (overlapping vs. nonoverlapping generations). The article then critically examines reciprocity as a foundational principle in liberal egalitarian thought, with particular reference to Rawlsian scholarship, highlighting both its enduring appeal and its limitations in intergenerational settings. The very idea of reciprocity is therefore disaggregated into comparative and noncomparative conceptions: Each account responds differently to the challenges posed by both overlapping and nonoverlapping generations. By situating the contributions to this Special Section within this framework, the article shows that the relationship between reciprocity and intergenerational justice is more complex and contested than commonly assumed.