Interpretation Of The Philosophy Of Sustainable Development Theory

As a substitute of traditional development theory and strategy, nowadays, sustainable development theory and strategy is not only a global practical subject of great importance, but an advanced academic problem worldly. In the book named Our Common Future written by WCED( World Committee on Environment and Development), a theory about sustainable development is proposed, which is now accepted by experts from many countries as the most authoritative. In this paper, I plan to clarify its' reasonableness and limits from the view of the Marx's philosophy. This paper is divided into three parts: The first part is mainly concerned with the formation of the sustainable development theory. In virtue of Kuhn's Paradigm Theory, the evolution of the social development theory can be divided into three periods: (1) the first is its initial formation (from the enlightenment movement to the World War II); (2) the second is its systemization and worldwide application (from the beginning of 1950s to the end of 1960s), (3) the third is its revolution (from the end of 1960s and the beginning of 1970s ). My conclusion is that the sustainable development theory is the positive result of the paradigm revolution of the social development theory. In the second part, to continue, the paper points out those aspects in which the sustainable development theory may transcend the traditional development theory in the sense of philosophy, which as following: (1) it has criticized the anthropocentrism implicit in the traditional development theory and advocates establishing a harmonious relationship between man and nature; (2) it insists on social justice, regarding justice between contemporaries and justice between generations as its essential requirements; (3) it proposes a new idea of development that development should take place in the light of the ecological sustainability, economic sustainability and social sustainability; whereas the traditional development idea regards economic growth as the sole content of development and so ignores other dimensions of it, such as ecological problem. In the third and last part, I make a criticism of the theory with a reference to the principal idea of social development theory of Marx's philosophy. The conclusion, firstly, is that it accepts the kind of social development which affirmed by national economics and the traditional development theory, the weakness of which is that it does not clarify the historical essence of development. Secondly, as for the questions of relationship between man and nature, Marx considers both that of thealienation of nature and that of the personification of the natures, regarding them as a historical process, namely, the process of the aliened labor and denying of the aliened labor. Yet, the sustainable development theory wants to find a way to settle the conflicts between man and nature, and man and man. But it does not make any criticism about capitalism, which leads to social injustice and is the source makes the relationship between man and nature in tension. In a word, the sustainable development theory has made a lot of theoretical progress, but contrasting to Marx's philosophy, it still has shortcomings.