| Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, the principles of sustainable development had become the guide of strategy making of the member states of the international community. The idea of sustainable development had been put in practice. However, it was soon noticed that it was difficult to put the principles of justice, sustainability and intercommunity in practice, a great number of the programs and projects put by the member states of the international community can not be implemented. In a word, the idea of sustainable development can not be translated into principles on which practicable and effective polices can be based and which will reverse current unsustainable trends of ecological degradation and human oppression. Why? Dose not the idea of sustainable development is nice?It is well-known that Brundtland's concept of sustainable development-meets the needs of the present people without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs-offers hope and encouragement both to those who pay attention to the extreme poverty and to those who do not think that development can be satisfactorily measured by a quantitative economic indicator such as gross national product. So Brundtland's definition was broadly accepted by people. But the definition offered no hint of what sustainable development involves in practice, what commitments is required and what cost will be. In fact, there are much difference and even conflict of economy , polity and culture between different countries, and there different interests between the poor and the rich in a country. So the global environmental and ecological consciousness which sustainable development required cannot be established, then the accordant activity cannot be launched, the idea of sustainable development cannot be carried out. So, the differences and conflicts between different countries and people are the most crucial obstacles to sustainable development which current studies on sustainable development ignored. Generally, according the current studies on sustainable development, the predicament of development are mostly due to the productive progress, the progress of science and technology, and the common weakness of humanity, on the other hand, the obstacles made by the un-equitable social relations and system were ignored. In order to overcome the obstacles to sustainable development, there must be a philosophical world view in which nature, science and technology, human, and society could be commonly and holistically studied. In fact, from the point of philosophical view, the current predicament of development showed that the relations between human and nature, people and people are irrational, and that human himself is dissimilated. In order to overcome the obstacles and to implement the program of sustainable development, the studies on sustainabledevelopment must be established in a rational philosophy. We think that Marxist Philosophy can be translated as such a philosophy.In the present of obstacles to sustainable development, Marxism often be condemned and challenged by most of the ecologists and economists. According to Kate Soper, three main grounds can be identified upon which many Greens object to Marxism: the "productivism" central to the Marxist account of history and vision of the future; the widespread identification of Marxism with the ecologically disastrous state-centralist regimes of Eastern Europe; and the Marxist commitment to the industrial working class as the main agent of change. According some economist, Marx did not understood the economic importance of natural resources and so did not anticipated the subsequent ecological problems of capitalism that are now of concern to economists. So, in order to reply the ecologists and economists' challenge to Marxism, Marxist must be concerned with the obstacles to sustainable development. My own thesis can also be translated as a kind of this product.This essay was consis... |
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