Growth, development and learning to live in a finite world

The model of the human – and the ethical stances that might flow from it – in ecological economics is mostly unexamined, but still derives essentially from the modern world view in which we are all already saturated, albeit with general warnings about inequality, over-consumption, problems with free-market capitalism, and so on. The current econo/ethical model presents a world in which we operate as if each individual were an infinitely desiring self coupled with a devotion to expressing itself and its need for “freedom†in a society characterized by a dynamic of constant growth and progress, and thereby requiring an infinite bounty of resources on an infinite planet to meet his or her desires. By contrast, what is needed urgently now is a new (but also very old) model of what it means to be an ethical human. In this chapter, elements of this model are predicated on a reassessment of the pivotal terms “growth†and “development†(with a glance at “sustainability†) and their changing relationship to notions of human well-being. The chapter reviews the historical trajectory of these terms, showing that “growth†was traditionally understood as related to natural, finite processes; and that it is only with the arrival of the scientific model of embryological development that “development†became a metaphor to be wielded for social and political effect. The transfer of “growth†and “development†from the biological to the political realms under the larger aegis of “progress†in the late eighteenth century opened up the prospect of the runaway infinite, unconstrained by individual mortality. “Sustainability†, a latecomer in terms of terms, added intimations of elemental nurturance and natural continuity over time to this cluster of “infinitist†concepts. These powerful shifts in language dovetailed with the rise, not only of the Industrial Revolution, but its counterpart, the rise of the Romantic individual. The social dynamic of endless scientific and technological innovation is echoed in the personal dynamic of the modern individual, striving for infinite freedom; and supported by the neo-classical economic vision. This chapter concludes with the belief that such a model is contrary to – and dangerous for – our new global ecological conditions, and draws on alternative traditions of what it means to live the good life. It concludes that the seeds of an alternative model are available, and increasingly necessary for us to learn how to live and flourish in a finite world – what it means to be and to have a good life in a world of interdependence, boundedness, and the finite, a world that respects the “limits to growthâ€