A Global Ethic of Sustainability?

Jon Wetlesen

Chapter 2 in Towards Sustainable Development, 1999, pp 30-47 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract What is implied by a global ethic if it is to provide the normative premises for sustainable development, and how sustainable is such an ethic in relation to moral opinion, nationally and internationally? This essay is an attempt to contribute an answer to this question. It takes its point of departure from the report of the World Commission for Environment and Development: Our Common Future, also called The Brundtland Report. This report provides strong recommendations for sustainable development both in OECD countries and in developing countries. But how are these recommendations substantiated? According to the interpretation that is suggested here, we can distinguish between two types of premises: the normative that concerns a global ethic, and the descriptive that concerns empirical hypotheses on the conditions for sustainable development. The normative premises involve some strong presuppositions on welfare and social justice for all humans in the present and in the future. The report hints at these normative presuppositions, but it makes no attempt to clarify them in more detail. It is a philosophical challenge to clarify what they imply, and how they can possibly be substantiated convincingly. The issue is discussed in connection with John Rawls’s theory on social justice, and a radical interpretation of it concerning international relations.

Keywords: Sustainable Development; Social Justice; Moral Agent; Equitable Distribution; Moral Subject (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-37879-7_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230378797

DOI: 10.1057/9780230378797_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().