Abstract

I offer a reflection on global development today, but also highlight the value of development ethics to help us guide the practice. Development ethics is more than just an applied ethics, it is a form of engaged philosophy since it engages with contemporary social and political problems from where they’re at in the world. It is not enough to argue for the inherent dignity of all when it is known that for many people their dignity is crushed. Development ethics tries to understand the factors that result in the absence of dignity.