Sustainable Development and the Values we Share – Sustainability as the Confluence of Islamic and Western Frameworks
Paweł Bernat
Środkowoeuropejski Instytut Zmiany Społecznej, Ul. Fundamentowa 45/47 lok. 33, 04-057 Warszawa (Poland)
Abstract
Sustainable development as well as implementation of sustainable practices stems from commitment to certain values. It is an expression of a particular ethical worldview – a sustainable ethic, a core value of which is the value of sustainability. This ethics is an applied ethics that is built upon two theoretical pillars. It operates on expanded scope of moral concern, where intrinsic value is appointed to future generations and also non-instrumental value is recognised in non-humans.
I will argue in this paper that those pillars, namely intergenerational equity and non-instrumental value of non-humans are present in ethical theories of the West and Islam. Both of which exist as values or as derivatives of other values in those moral frameworks. On that account, as it will be demonstrated further, sustainable development, in theory and practice, may be seen as a common ground for intercultural dialogue and a tool of bringing together the two cultures.
Keywords:
environmental ethics, intergenerational equity, Islam, sustainability, sustainable development, value of NatureReferences
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Authors
Paweł BernatŚrodkowoeuropejski Instytut Zmiany Społecznej, Ul. Fundamentowa 45/47 lok. 33, 04-057 Warszawa Poland
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