Unlimited Economic Growth, Community, And Moral Obligations to Each Other

This article is very timely. We are watching Europe grapple with the issues that arise from establishing a common currency among a group of nations states with different senses of community. We are also observing some of the problems in the US that has established a single nation state among a disparate grouping of ethnic, geographic, and religious communities. This raises the whole question of community, and the obligations that others believe they have to each other. We are also witnessing a conflict between the goals of capitalism and the sense of community. The goal of capitalism is the accumulation of wealth, which depends upon the expansion of markets. Globalization facilitates that goal. Multinational corporations are the means by which the globalization of markets and the free flow of capital to its most productive use is facilitated. This has the effect of destroying community. Also the need for continuous economic growth creates a culture of consumerism and it threatens our ecosystem. This raises questions about morality in a steady state economy. This is a good starting point for looking at the philosophical implications of infinite economic growth versus a steady state economy. The questions raised about community, and moral obligation, are deeper than the narrow argument for sustainability which also raises questions about our obligations to future generations.