Development ethics is a field of enquiry that reflects on both the ends and the means of
economic development
In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...
. It typically takes a normative stance, asking and answering questions about the nature of ethically desirable development and what ethics means for achieving development, and discusses various ethical dilemmas that the practice of development has led to. Its aim is to ensure that "value issues" are an important part of the discourse of development.
International Development Ethics Association. What is Development Ethics
Key themes
Development ethics typically looks at development theories and practice and their relationships with:
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Social justice
Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
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Human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
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Basic needs
The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of absolute poverty in developing countries globally. It works to define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being, usually in terms of Co ...
A major focus of the literature is on the "ethics of the means". This involves asking not only how to realize the goals of development but also what are ethical limits in their pursuit.
, one of the founding fathers of the discipline, argued in ''The Cruel Choice'' (1971) that "Development ethics is useless unless it can be translated into public action. By public action is meant action taken by public authority, as well as actions taken by private agents by having important consequences for the life of the public community. The central question is: How can moral guidelines influence decisions of those who hold power?"
[ Goulet, Denis (1971), ''The Cruel Choice'']
Prominent development ethicists
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David A. Crocker
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Séverine Deneulin
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Jay Drydyk
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Des Gasper
Des Gasper is a development studies academic. He works as a professor of ''Human Development, Development Ethics and Public Policy'', at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Erasmus University Rotterdam
Erasmus University Rot ...
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Denis Goulet
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Lori Keleher
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Serene J. Khader
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Christine Koggel
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Stacy Kosko
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Louis-Joseph Lebret
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Gunnar Myrdal
Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( ; ; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money an ...
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Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum (; Craven; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philos ...
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Eric Palmer
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Ingrid Robeyns
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Dudley Seers
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Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...
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Nikos Astroulakis
References
Further reading
* {{Cite journal , last = Crocker , first = David A , author-link= David Crocker , title = Toward development ethics , journal = World Development , volume = 19 , issue = 5 , pages = 457–483 , doi = 10.1016/0305-750X(91)90188-N , date = May 1991
*Dower, N. (1988) 'What is Development?—A Philosopher's Answer', Centre for Development Studies Occasional Paper Series, 3, Glasgow: University of Glasgow.
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Gasper, D. (1994) "Development Ethics: An Emergent Field?" in R. Prendergast and F. Stewart (eds.) Market Forces and World Development, London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press.
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Goulet, D. (1971) The Cruel Choice: A New Concept in the Theory of Development (New York: Athenaeum).
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Goulet, D. (1977) The Uncertain Promise: Value Conflicts in Technology Transfer (New York: IDOC/NA).
Goulet, Denis (1996) A New Discipline: Development Ethics, The Kellogg Institute Working Papers - Working Paper #231 - August*Gunatilleke, G.,
Neelan Tiruchelvam, and
Radhika Coomaraswamy (eds.) (1988) Ethical Dilemmas of Development in Asia, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
*Khader, Serene J. (2011) Adaptive Preferences and Women's Empowerment. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Seers, Dudley (1977) The New Meaning of Development, International Development Review
*Astroulakis, N. (2011), "The development ethics approach to international development", International Journal of Development Issues. https://doi.org/10.1108/14468951111165359
*Astroulakis, N. (2014). The application of development ethics to international development (Doctoral dissertation, University of Crete). National Documentation Centre of Greece. Open Access: https://thesis.ekt.gr/40337
External links
International Development Ethics Association
Economic development
Ethics
Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...