The Meaning of Equal Treatment of Present and Future Events—Time Discounting

The discussion up to this chapter has assumed that equal treatment of present and future events is desirable. This chapter considers whether equal treatment is indeed possible and worthy of support. It is necessary to resolve the problem of equal treatment rendering acts of present happiness as immoral (conflict of basic moral principles). There are two methodologies for resolving the conflict: divestment from utilitarianismUtilitarianism and the introduction of time discounting. This chapter mainly discusses the introduction of time discounting. The rationale for the various discounts is described, and it is pointed out that there exists the idea of discounting associated with the loss of controllability over events, as the discounting intrinsic to time and consistent with the principle of equal treatment of the present and the future. This discounting is of two types: one due to the intervention of subsequent decision makers, and the other due to natural hazardsNatural hazards. This chapter explains the function of each.