The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 3:185-189 (2007)
Authors |
|
Abstract |
My aim is to defend the concept of sustainable development both against economists' interpretations that make it involve perpetual gains to human well-being, and against sceptical accounts that make its meaning vary from speaker to speaker, serving as a cloak for the status quo and the suggestion that it be discarded. The assumptions of the economists' interpretation are questioned, and the centrality among early advocates of sustainable development of sustainable practices and of sustainability being social and ecological as well as economic is used to support a different interpretation. On this interpretation, sustainable development involves the satisfaction of basic needs and comprises the precondition of economically, socially and ecologically sustainable practices. What is to be sustained is overtly practices and more basically intrinsic value. This account is shown to assist with solving conflicts between nature preservation and alleviation of poverty, solutions to which are argued to embody sustainable development even in the absence of prospects of ever-increasing quality of life for humanity. While this interpretation already counts against sceptical accounts, these are also shown to arise from the adoption of the radical concept of sustainable development by governments, international agencies and multinational business at the Rio Summit of 1992, and consequent re-interpretations. But the rational response is not discarding the concept but rediscovering the radical core and potential to which these various bodies are in theory committed
|
Keywords | Conference Proceedings Contemporary Philosophy General Interest |
Categories | (categorize this paper) |
DOI | 10.5840/wcp2120073258 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
No references found.
Citations of this work BETA
No citations found.
Similar books and articles
How Frameworks Can Help Operationalize Sustainable Development Indicators.Joanna Becker - 2007 - World Futures 63 (2):137 – 150.
Sustainable Development, Engineering and Multinational Corporations: Ethical and Public Policy Implications. [REVIEW]Joseph R. Herkert - 1998 - Science and Engineering Ethics 4 (3):333-346.
Of Sustainability and Precaution The Logical, Epistemological, and Moral Problems of the Precautionary Principle and Their Implications for Sustainable Development.W. Mckinney - 2000 - Ethics and the Environment 5 (1):77-87.
The Concept of Sustainable Development Revisited.Fernando Dias de Avila-Pires, Luiz Carlos Mior, Vilênia Porto Aguiar & Susana Regina Mello Schlempeder - 2000 - Foundations of Science 5 (3).
The Concept of Sustainable Development Revisited.Fernando Dias Avila-Piredes, Luiz Carlos Mior, Vilênia Porto Aguiar & Susana Regina de Mello Schlemper - 2000 - Foundations of Science 5 (3):261-268.
Environmental Discourse and Sustainable Development: Linkages and Limitations.M. Shamsul Haque - 2000 - Ethics and the Environment 5 (1):3-21.
Reflection About Sustainable Development (is Sustainable Development Fiction, Utopia, Illusion or Swindle?) (In Polish).Wiesław Sztumski - unknown
Sustainable Development and the Local Justice Framework.Emery Roe - 1997 - Philosophy and Social Criticism 23 (2):97-114.
Sustainable Development: Scientific and Ethical Assessments. [REVIEW]Mario Giampietro & Sandra G. F. Bukkens - 1992 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 5 (1):27-57.
Does Place Matter? Sustainable Community Development in Three Canadian Communities.Lenore Newman, Chris Ling & Ann Dale - 2008 - Ethics, Place and Environment 11 (3):267-281.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2011-12-02
Total views
55 ( #208,499 of 2,520,361 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #405,718 of 2,520,361 )
2011-12-02
Total views
55 ( #208,499 of 2,520,361 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
1 ( #405,718 of 2,520,361 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads