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Sustainable Development: Business as Usual or a New Way of Living?
Citation
Davidson, J, Sustainable Development: Business as Usual or a New Way of Living?, Environmental Ethics, 22, (1) pp. 25-42. ISSN 0163-4275 (2000) [Refereed Article]
DOI: doi:10.5840/enviroethics200022147
Abstract
In the eighteenth century, the economic problem was reformulated according to a particular set of politico-economic components, in which the pursuit of individual freedom was elevated to an ethical and political ideal. Subsequent developments of this individualist philosophy together with the achievements of technological progress now appear as a threat to future existence. Extensive environmental degradation and persistent global inequalities of wealth demand a new reformulation of the economic problem. Sustainable development has emerged as the most recent economic strategy for addressing concerns about ecological integrity and social justice. Although there is a recognized continuum of understanding about the concept - from conservative to radical - it has been argued that only the radical version of sustainable development embodies the ethical capacity to address these concerns. Simultaneously the perennial existential question "How should we live?" has been raised anew along with the novel ethico-moral question: "How should we arrange our systems of production and consumption to ensure the sustainability of the Earth under conditions of conspicuous and pressing environmentally limiting conditions?" Moreover, the strong normative dimension embodied in the radical version of sustainability represents a challenge to liberal democracy and its understanding of individual and collective goods. I argue that the radical approach has the capacity to relieve what is an inherently acute tension of modern life and to reconcile individual autonomy with the wider social and ecological good.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Research Division: | Philosophy and Religious Studies |
| Research Group: | Philosophy |
| Research Field: | Aesthetics |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Environmental and Natural Resource Evaluation |
| Objective Field: | Institutional Arrangements for Environmental Protection |
| Author: | Davidson, J (Dr John Davidson) |
| ID Code: | 19778 |
| Year Published: | 2000 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 23 |
| Deposited By: | Geography and Environmental Studies |
| Deposited On: | 2000-08-01 |
| Last Modified: | 2011-07-06 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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