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Applied Ethics

Section 4Development Ethics

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Development

The process of moving away from the evils of low life-expectancy, poor health, low literacy & low productivity, through self-help & enhanced social justice.

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Alternatively…

Development is the condition of a society which has largely attained more satisfactory levels, again through self-help & greater social justice.

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Development Ethics

Studies the ethical & value questions posed by development theory, planning & practice.

Not all processes of development need to be approved by those who recognize them as ‘development’.

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Harry Truman

Truman’s 1949 model of development has been criticised as anti-communist imperialism.

But his concepts of underdevelopment & development are indispensable.

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Peter Singer

Singer’s 1972 argument for individual obligations to alleviate famine remains relevant.

But the issues need to be reconceived in terms of averting & preventing persistent malnutrition & promoting development.

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David Crocker

Following Amartya Sen, Crocker interprets development as ‘a process of change that protects, restores, strengthens & expands people’s valued & valuable capabilities’ (see note 1 [last slide, this Section]).

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Onora O’Neill

O’Neill has shown how Kantianism, whatever its defects, can underpin such an activist interpretation of development ethics.

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Contractarianism

Rawlsian contractarianism has been developed by Brian Barry & Charles R. Beitz to apply to fairer rules for international relations.

Despite its shortcomings, contractarianism can thus play a part in development ethics.

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The Concept of Sustainable Development

The Brundtland Report (1987) Defined ‘sustainable development’ as

development that ‘meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (see note 2 [last slide, this Section]).

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Sustainable Development

In the Brundtland Report, sustainable development is sustainable economically, socially & environmentally, & recognizes the intrinsic value of living creatures.

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Other Interpretations

The endorsement of sustainable development at the Rio Summit (1992) led to sustainable development being interpreted to suit big business interests, & consequently being accused of meaning ‘business-as-usual’.

Yet it remains a defensible radical concept, to which almost all nations on Earth subscribe.

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Millennium Development Goals

Internationally agreed in 2000.

Include the aim of halving extreme poverty by 2015.

But the prospects of most of the goals being met are slim.

They show, however, that large international programmes for achieving international development continue to be needed, as is individual support for them.

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Notes

1. David Crocker, ‘Hunger, Capability and Development’, in W. Aiken and H. LaFollette (eds), World Hunger and Morality, 2nd edn., 1996, 211-230; reprinted in Des Gasper and Asuncion Lera St. Clair (eds), Development Ethics (Farnham, UK & Burlington, VT: 2010), pp. 383-402 [p. 410].

2. World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), Our Common Future (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 43.