Those who practice foresight understand why it is ethically important to think about and plan for the future. They also understand how foresight provides a way to do this. It is often challenging, however, to communicate this to people outside of the foresight community. Even when there is an understanding of the importance of foresight, it is usually focused on the benefit to the organization employing it. For example, businesses may see foresight as important because it allows them to gain an advantage over their competitors due to a better ability to prepare for and navigate uncertainty.
This reasoning is incomplete because it fails to consider what we owe, ethically speaking, to future generations and why being able to think about and plan for the future is such a unique capability of humans. Foresight practitioners must be able to clearly and concisely communicate this. What follows are four perspectives derived from philosophical ethics that can help with this. Read more: https://www.apf.org/post/the-ethical-case-for-foresight.