PRIN 2022 – Next Generation Ita. Increasing Trust, Making Future Generations Possible
Description of the project
The constitutional law of 11 February 2022, n. 1, amended articles 9 and 41 of the Italian Constitution by including an explicit reference to an obligation toward future generations. The amended article speaks of “the protection of the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems, also for the interest of future generations”. In this way, the legislator recognizes the validity of the principle of transgenerational responsibility, according to which the actions we take today may have important consequences for the world of tomorrow and future generations.
The research hypothesis of the present project is that societies are constitutively transgenerational devices, i.e. they are complex artefacts created by human beings that allow the capitalization of knowledge and resources by transferring them over time between generations. Some problems that are distinctive of the current historical phase, as for example the climate and environmental crisis or the sustainability of national public debts and welfare systems, make two things clear: first, the control of time is at least as urgent as that of space, hence the need to update the Constitution with reference to future generations on issues such as the environment and welfare. Second, many social practices carried out by means of information technologies create value: the so-called documedia capital (Ferraris, 2020), i.e., the value of data generated by the processing and sharing of traces we produce by using the web. Documedia capital is increasingly exploited by digital platforms but is rarely conceptualised or capitalised for the benefit of the community or future generations (Andina 2022, Ferraris, 2020). An integration between the theory of transgenerationality and the theory of documedia capital then seems promising in order to identify resources that policymakers can use to support the implementation of transgenerational policies.
Unlike most research on transgenerationality, which only favours the ethical perspective, the NEXT-ITA project inaugurates an innovative approach, able to put together a metaphysical, ethical, historical and juridical perspective on this issue. NEXT-ITA will use a methodology in which philosophy (metaphysics, ontology and ethics) will investigate the structure of transgenerationality together with the ways to strengthen it, while philosophy of law and jurisprudence will investigate the history of the legal devices used to implement transgenerationality in civil law, comparatively exploring the updates of some European constitutions on the issues of environmental protection and future generations and, finally, pointing out possible legal devices aimed at the representation of future generations. Additionally, NEXT-ITA proposes a policy to successfully implement our obligation toward future generations also through the resources of documedia capital.
PRIN Grant: 278.715 €
Research units
Università di Torino
Tiziana ANDINA (PI); Gianmaria AJANI, Maurizio BALISTRERI, Alice CAUDURO, Maurizio FERRARIS, Gabriele GAVA, Carlo GENOVA, Erica ONNIS, Valeria MARTINO, Costanza PENNA, Giulio SACCO.
Università degli Studi dell’Insubria
Barbara POZZO; Francesca AINGER, Letizia CASERTANO, Stefano FANETTI, Valentina JACOMETTI, Elena NALATO.
Università del Salento
Attilio PISANÒ; Matteo GALLETTI, Maurizia PIERRI, Giovanni TARANTINO.
Main publications on the topic by the research team members
Andina, T., (2020). Transgenerazionalità. Una filosofia per le generazione future, Roma, Carocci.
Andina, T., Corvino, F., (2023), Climate Change, the Non-identity Problem, and the Metaphysics of Transgenerational Actions. In G. Pellegrino, M. Di Paola (eds.), Handbook of Philosophy of Climate Change, Cham, Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16960-2_110-2
Onnis, E. (2023). Cibo e libertà di scelta. Verso nuove narrazioni alimentari compatibili con la mitigazione climatica. Rivista di Estetica, 82(3).
Pisanò, A., (2012). Diritti deumanizzati. Animali, Ambiente, Generazioni future, Specie umana, Milano, Giuffrè.
Pisanò, A. (2016), Generazioni future e famiglia umana. In G. Gioffredi (a cura di), Studi su Bioetica e diritto internazionale, Napoli, ESI.
Pisanò, A., (2022). Il diritto al clima. Il ruolo dei diritti nei contenziosi climatici europei, Napoli, ESI.
Pozzo, B. (2018), Climate change and the individual. In the Italian National Reports of the International Academy of Comparative Law.
Pozzo B., (2021), La climate change litigation in prospettiva comparatistica, in Rivista Giuridica dell’Ambiente, 2/2021.
Pozzo, B. (2021). The Italian Path to Climate Change: Nothing New Under the Sun. In F. Sindico, M. M. Mbengue (eds.). Comparative climate change litigation: beyond the usual suspects, Cham, Springer.
Research output
Publications
Andina, T. (2025). About the “chain of generations”, Phenomenolgoy and Mind, 28, pp. 20-31, DOI: 10.17454/pam-2805.
Andina, T., Sacco, G. (2024). Feeling Emotions for Future People, Topoi, 43(1), pp. 5-15, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-023-09968-5.
Balistreri, M. (2024a). Why Should we Build Artificial People? Ethics & Politics, 3, pp. 13-28.
Balistreri, M. (2024b). From Covid 19 Pandemic to Germline Genome Editing. HUMANA.MENTE Journal of Philosophical Studies, 17(46), 55-84.
Balistreri, M. (2024c). Beyond the Non-Identity Problem. Ethics of Genome Editing and Parental Responsibility, Paradigmi, 3/2024, pp. 359-376, doi: 10.30460/116412
Genova, C. (forthcoming). The Party is Over? Italian Youth Actvisim in Radical Left-wing Groups and Their Representation of Political Parties, Comparative European Politics, forthcoming.
Genova, C. (forthcoming). Political Action and Private Life Between Separation and Continuity. Approaches to Participation Among Young Activists. In E. Cihan, J. Kennelly (eds.), Handbook of Youth Activism. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Martino, V. (2025). Redesigning Social Groups. Understanding the Young-Elder Divide, Phenomenology and Mind, 28, pp. 48-58, DOI: 10.17454/pam-2804.
Sacco, G. (2024), Transgenerational Frontiers: The Capabilities Approach And the New Challenge of Justice, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 32(3), pp. 315-332, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2024.2371128
Edited Volumes
Andina, T., Sacco, G. (eds.) (2025), La sfida del domani. Filosofia e generazioni future, Roma: Castelvecchi, ISBN: 979-12-5614-641-3, https://iris.unito.it/handle/2318/2097290
Andina, T., Sacco, G. (eds.) (2024), “Emotions Towards Future Generations”, Topoi: An International Review of Philosophy, 43, 1, 2024, https://link.springer.com/journal/11245/volumes-and-issues/43-1.
Events
Convegno di apertura del progetto. Rappresentare le generazioni. La questione transgenerazionale nella rappresentanza politica e sociale. Torino, November 23th, 2023. Campus Luigi Einaudi, Aula E4, Lungo Dora Siena, 100, h. 9.15-18.15
Convegno Sovranità intergenerazionale. Potere costituente e liberalismo politico. A partire dal volume di Alessandro Ferrara, 31 ottobre 2024, Università degli studi di Torino.
Summer School in Comparative Law 2025
Descrizione del Corso:
Since 2003, the Interuniversity Research Centre for Comparative Law organizes annually a Summer School in Comparative Law, with classes given in English by Italian and foreign professors.
Over the years the Summer School has been focusing on both general topics and monographic themes.
The project also sets itself the task of offering to undergraduate students, PhD students as well as to professionals an opportunity to reflect on issues related to intercultural dialogue.
In organizing the Summer School we collaborated with Baton Rouge Louisiana State University (Louisiana-USA), the William S. Boyd School of Law (Nevada), the University of California at Davis – Law School and currently the Universities of Aix-Marseille, Utrecht and Opole.
Seminars (UniTo)
February 21st (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Attilio Pisanò, Cos’è un contenzioso climatico? Elementi definitori (discussant Barbara Pozzo)
February 28th (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Fausto Corvino, Emissions limitarianism (discussant Davide Pala)
March 20th (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Alice Cauduro, Il futuro dell’accesso al farmaco (discussant Gianmaria Ajani)
March 27th (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Carlo Genova, Il futuro negli occhi dei giovani. Obiettivi, strumenti, limiti (discussant Valeria Martino)
April 10th (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Maurizio Balistreri, Etica dell’estinzione umana: la nostra responsibilità verso le generazioni future (discussant Giulio Sacco)
April 24th (h 17.00-18.30), 2024
Davide Pala, Can future generations be dominated? (discussant Tiziana Andina)
May 15th, 2024
Emanuele Colombo, Morire per non morire. Dispositivi di creatività
transgenerazionale (Europa cattolica, XVII-XVIII secolo) (discussant Alice
Raviola)
May 29, 2024
Alice Raviola, La vita in Atto. Nuove prospettive d’indagine (discussant Giulio Sacco)
June 5, 2024
Roberto Caso, La pseudo-proprietà intellettuale e il futuro (incerto) della
conoscenza (libera) (discussant Gianmaria Ajani)
June 6, 2024
Giulia Miotti, Future generazioni ed eque possibilità: il ruolo di un’economia
sociale (discussant Erica Onnis)
Seminars (UnInsubria)
March 10, 2025
Tullio Scavazzi, La dimensione temporale del diritto internazionale dell’ambiente: i diritti delle generazioni future
March 13, 2025
Salvo Torre, Decolonial Thought: Exploring Intergenerational Justice
April 8, 2025
Ulderico Pomarici e Ferdinando Menga, Discussione del volume “Dignità a venire. La filosofia del diritto alla prova del futuro”
April 8-9, 2025
Annalisa Savaresi, Diritti delle generazioni future nel contesto del cambiamento climatico
April 14, 2025
Francesco Sindico, La Corte Internazionale di Giustizia e il Parere Consultivo sulle Obbligazioni Statali in materia di Cambiamento Climatico: Possibile Implicazioni per le Future Generazioni
November 20, 2025
Attilio Pisanò, Il valore delle emissioni storiche nella giustizia climatica intergenerazionale
February 10-11, 2026
Convegno di chiusura del PRIN, The Urgency of Transgenerationality, Torino, Webpage
Public Debate
Evento ReciproCity, Torino, 20-21 Gennaio (con la partecipazione di Tiziana Andina e Carlo Genova).
Press
T. Andina, “Il popolo nel concetto filosofico del tempo”, Il Manifesto, 18 agosto 2024, link (pdf).