Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS A TASK OF THE STATE. ETHICAL ASPECTS 227
5.5. Control, Criticism, Limitation:
A model this comprehensive in nature may invite overinterpretation
and offer a basis for ideology-building such as
that familiar from the “old” discussions on ecology. 17 In this
respect, ethics has a critical, controlling function, including
defining the limits of the demands associated with the model.
The right to live of current generations must be respected; it
must not be allowed to be instrumentalised out of the need to
protect future generations. It should also be remembered that
the central structural elements of sustainable development were
formulated with an eye on certain problems of systemic ethics,
and they should be limited to this particular area of work 18
(control, criticism, limitation function).
Universitãre Hochschule Luzern
Institut für Sozialethik
Kasermeplatz 3
Postfach 7427
6000 Luzern 7
Switzerland.
HANS J. MÜNK
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Summary / Resumen
Following a brief analysis of the model of sustainable development,
the relationship between the ethical foundations of sustainable
development in today‘s world and the ethical legitimation of states is
discussed. The functions of the state with respect to lawmaking as
understood in these normative terms are then examined from different
perspectives. A guide is thus established for determining in detail the
role of ethics in the state’s task of pursuing “sustainable development”.
17
For example, “eco dictatorship” and “nature as a substitute for
religion”.
18
The long-term time perspective, for instance, is not a viable parameter
for the doctor-patient relationship; it is important, however, with respect to
the systemic framework conditions, because they have to be able to provide
such support into the distant future.