Ethical Basis of Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development is ambiguous yet undoubtedly it has the character of an ethical project. There are several definitions and interpretations of this concept. The most popular one states that sustainable development is “the way to satisfy the aspirations of societies without restraining the chances of future generations to satisfy their needs”. Therefore, sustainable development is the postulate of social justice within one generation and between generations understood as equal chances to satisfy reasonable needs of present and future generations. Two questions arise: 1. What are these “future generations”? 2. Which ethical principles should be referred to while implementing development defined as above? The article is an attempt to answer those matters and is inspired by Dieter Birnbacher’s Responsibility for future generations (Verantwortung für zukünftige Generationen).