Abstract
This paper applies the “Perspectivist conception” to the issue of sustainable development in such a way as to make perspicuous two competing views on the issue. These views, here termed theeconomic and theecological, are respectively that of the United Nation's Brundtland Commission, which favours economic growth as a means of overcoming the world's environmental problems, and an alternative view, according to which environmental problems must be dealt with directly, and economic growth may well be a hindrance to their solution. The paper concludes with a theory of human development based on thevicious circle principle, which shows theeconomic perspective on sustainable development to be incoherent, and theecological perspective to remain a viable alternative.
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This paper, here published with permission, is an expansion of Appendix VI of the author's book,Scientific Progress.
Funding for research has been provided by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
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Dilworth, C. Two perspectives on sustainable development. Popul Environ 15, 441–467 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211718
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211718