On Ethical
Sustainability
Dickson Kanakulya
Objectives
• Generate the notion of ethical sustainability (ES)
• Explain its contribution to sustainability discourse
• Discuss the nature of ES and its elements
• Explain the constituent principles that form the
pillars of ES
• Generate feedback from audience on direction of
the notion that is being generated
Quotes from Einstein
“we cant solve problems by using the same
kind of thinking we used when we created
them”.
From: (1934) My World View (Mein Weltbild)
“Without ‘ethical culture,’ there is no
salvation for humanity.”
From: “The Need for Ethical Culture”, January
5,1951
Main problem
• Our current political, economic and social development
systems are unsustainable.
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Indicators the problem:
Climate change
Extinction of natural organisms
Irreversible environmental damage
New and complicated health problems – viruses, epidemics,
cancers, etc
• Collapse of ecological systems e.g. bee colonies (in the US)
• Collapse of social and political systems e.g. refugee crisis;
failure of traditional social safety-nets, etc
Main questions
• How do we realize sustainable political and
social systems and processes for sustainable
development?
• How would we effectively incorporate ethics in
sustainability discourse?
• What would characterize ethically sustainable
political, social and development systems and
processes?
Suggested Causes and failure
of proposed solutions
• Anthropocentric industrialization (19th century)
• Misguided pursuit of economic growth
• Irreversible scientific and high-tech engineering of
nature
Failure of suggested solutions:
• IMFs Structural Adjustment Programmes – SAPs
(economistic thinking failed)
• 1980s Reforestation & Green movement (more
forest cover is being depleted each day)
• Carbon-trade system ???
Underlying assumptions of
problems
What are the underlying assumptions of those
problems?
• Self-interested rationality
• “Survival-of-the-fittest” logic
• Naturalistic reductionism
Recent observations
• That there are complex natural and social
systems that are irreducible (systems approach)
• Using self-interest (which led us to the
unsustainability of current development logic) to
solve the problems cannot yield viable results
• That underneath all dimensions of sustainability
the ethical dimension is critical because all other
types depend on it
Hypothesis:
Et
DTPr
SsDev
iEtDev
pDTPr
+
(iEt + DTP)
DTP
pDTPr
pDTPr = SsDev
Proposed solution:
• Change our conception of rationality from
self-interest to conscientious rationality
• Focus sustainability discourse towards
ethical sustainability
• Apply the ES principles of justice, ubuntu,
capabilities, and integrity build sustainable
political, economic and social systems
plus processes.
Ethical foundation
Ethics
Ethics
Social
Economic
Ethics
Ethics
ETHICAL FABRIC
Ethics
Environment
Ethics
Defining ES
• ethical sustainability (ES) refers to that
foundational aspect of sustainability that
focuses on i) ensuring the relevance of
ethics thinking to sustainability discourse
and ii) maintaining the ethical fabric on
which to base the realization of
sustainable systems and processes.
• About i) sustaining the spheres of
sustainability and ii) sustaining society’s
ethical fabric.
Nature of Ethical sustainability
A “scheme of complementary principles”
Scheme = systematic plan or arrangement
for attaining some particular object or
putting a particular idea into effect.
These principles include: i) justice, ii)
ubuntu, iii) integrity and iv) capabilities.
Applied to 1) theorization of sustainability
2) structures and individual action
Nature of ES…
Principles of ES scheme are applied in 2
complimentary modes
i) Mode 1: Ensuring sustainability that is
ethical (re-defining ‘sustainable’)
ii) Mode 2: Sustaining the ethical fabric
itself (ethics denominators)
Mode 1: Ensuring sustainability
that is ethical
• Two aspects: i) theoretical ii) practical
– Theoretical – undoing the impact of amoral
naturalism and self-interest rationality
(recognize irreducibility and others on planet)
– Practical – ethicalization of the functionings of
individuals and institutions (engendering
ethical competence and capability within
institutions and among individuals).
Mode 2: Sustaining the ethical
fabric itself
• Sustaining ethics denominators (basic
tenets of the ethical-fabric that uphold all
the other aspects of society such as
business, education, and marriage, etc).
• Done at two levels,
– i) primary levels of ethical sustenance
– ii) secondary levels of ethical sustenance
Principles of ES
• Complementary ethical principles that
would provide pillars for realization of ES
– Justice
– Ubuntu
– Capabilities
– Integrity
• Principle = “general axiomatic statement
from which particular decisions are drawn
by a deductive process of reasoning.
• But why use the “principle-approach”?
Why use the “principle-approach”?
• There is criticism of this approach e.g. it
produces “machine-like” moral decisions.
• But principlism is not necessarily exclusive
to the virtue approach. The virtueapproach necessarily turns into principles.
• PA = neutral, pluralistic and all-embracing
…the orderliness and relativity of
application appeals to the practical-minded
Why choose these 4 principles
1) Applicability to a contractualist spatial
political reality i.e. the EAC (Rawls’ theory of
justice; in global justice thinkers e.g. Pogge).
2) Need to reverse-engineer the ethical impact
of self-interest rationality & its influence on
modern economism. (use Ubuntu to bring a
sense of community)
3) Increase peoples’ ethical capabilities
4) Increase trust by people in the functionings
of their institutions
Justice principle
• Sustainability of political and social
systems and processes requires justice.
The disadvantaged would seek to destroy
it; thus relevance of Rawl’s “justice as
fairness”.
• Is a contractualist and uses a distributive
approach to justice; rational humans come
together under the “veil of ignorance” and
agree on certain principles to guide society
Justice…
• Rawlsian principles:
– i) equal liberty principle
– Ii) difference principle
– Iii) just saving principle (added later-1999v)
• In The Law of Peoples (1999) he extends
his theory to international relations; he laid
out as agenda for the “…extension of a
general social contract idea…” to [the
international order] (p.4).
Justice…
• Need to make Rawls applicable in resolving
prob. of self-interest in contractual political and
social systems (self-interested agents take
advantage contractual systems). In economist
assumptions this is termed “rationality” (error)
• My view: change the underlying assumption of
rationality from “self-interested rationality” to
“conscientious rationality”. Rational ≠ selfishness
• Rationality means being conscious and careful
about existential support provided by nature and
the ‘others’ around us
Ubuntu principle
• Ubuntu is an African philosophy of humanity and
community; it is a philosophy of becoming
human, which encourages a holistic and
inclusive view of all humans as those who share
the same space and resources.
• It promotes a spirit and logic of “community”; that
can help sustain a contractual political or social
arrangement.
• But there is need to adapt it to political discourse
and allow it to influence contemporary social
realities.
Ubuntu…
• Enables us realize and appreciate our
interconnectedness as humans; thus
promote the sustainability of our social and
political systems and processes
• A “conscientious rationality” is necessary
in order to actualize ubuntu; it is important
to acknowledge that other beings in nature
and society support our existence but are
not our competitors (as by Darwinian logic)
Capabilities principle
• Generated by Amartya Sen and Martha
Nussbaum to address failures and injustices of
economistic approach to development.
• CA is a theoretical framework for achieving
human-centered well-being, development and
justice.
• Argues that, “…freedom to achieve well-being is
a matter of what people are able to do and to
be”
• Built on: Functionings and Capabilities
Capabilities…
• Functionings - various states of ‘beings’
and ‘doings’
– What the person is capable of being and
doing
• Capabilities - individual’s real freedom and
opportunities to achieve functionings
– Valuable opportunities from which a person
can choose
Capabilities…
• Serves as pillar of ES because:
– CA is flexible enough to be applied in
cultivating ethical capabilities in persons
– Need for both intrinsic and extrinsic
empowerment to be in position to
contextualize their development
– Assists in replacing the resourcist or trickledown theories that are not sustainable
Integrity principle
• Means wholesomeness in the consistence
of character individually or collectively (i.e.
being aligned to) in ethical virtues such as
honesty, respect of life, truthfulness,
transparency, accountability, etc
• A society or institution that has not
integrity is falling apart and is
unsustainable.
Integrity…
• It is a pillar of ES because:
– Builds and increases trust of the persons and
institutions in society (such as political
systems and processes)
– Builds character for public officers and ensure
sustainability of their offices
• However it needs to go beyond legalistic
rhetoric of punishment and sanctions, etc
to instead cultivate integrity by incentives
Conclusion
All other forms of sustainability in
society and planet depend on human
conduct; therefore the ethical aspect of
reality is more fundamental in ensuring
sustainability. Ethical sustainability
needs to be realized in order to have
sustainable political and social
systems and processes