Does the Idea of the Sustainable Development Show a New Vision of the Development of the Civilization?

The starting point of the consideration is an analysis of the present crisis of civilisation and a search for a new vision of the further advance of humankind. In this context different understandings of the postulate of sustainable development are exposed. There is a justified thesis that the meaning of sustainable development in the world of politics and business remains within the confines of the current paradigm of human development and, in fact, expresses an aspiration to continue, though somewhat modified, the previous model of the advancement of civilization. Simultaneously, it outlines a possibility of such understanding of sustainable development which can become a starting point for a new vision of social development. It requires thorough rethinking and revision of the philosophical, economic and political basis of further development including all spheres and aspects of human culture.