Chronoethics

Chronoethics is an interdisciplinary field that studies ethical questions raised by the dimension of time in human decision making and social life. It examines how timing, duration, and the pace of events shape moral judgments and policy choices, from individual consent to long-term governance.

Core topics include intergenerational justice, which concerns duties to future people and fair distribution of resources over time; temporal discounting, the way present preferences affect the valuation of future welfare and the viability of long-term projects; and the ethics of long-term risk management, such as climate change, pandemics, and other existential risks that unfold across generations. The field also addresses triage and the ethics of time in emergencies, where urgency and access must be weighed under tight temporal constraints, as well as aging, autonomy, and end-of-life decisions as they relate to evolving circumstances over a person’s lifespan. Additional concerns cover the pace of technological development and responsible innovation, and research ethics with temporal considerations, including post-trial obligations and data retention.

Chronoethics draws on philosophy of time, bioethics, environmental ethics, economics, and public policy to clarify how time shapes moral claims and trade-offs. It invites scrutiny of discount rates, horizons, and duties to future persons, and seeks frameworks that balance present and future interests in fair and prudent ways. The field aims to guide both policy design and individual choices in a temporally informed moral landscape.