Human Development Theory

One of the greatest influences of the contemporary world is the idea of economic growth. Nowadays, every nation strives to grow economically lest it be labelled as a poor nation. This presumes that the only measurement of development is the economic growth. That is why contemporary capitalists are more or less free to do whatever they want as long as they promise to achieve economic growth. However, does economic growth generated by capitalists enable individuals and societies to equally flourish? It does not. Instead of ensuring individuals' wellbeing, contemporary economic system exploit them, taking them as means rather than ends in themselves. Moved by such a spirit, contemporary capitalists cannot generate a sustainable development for every person and society. Rather, they deceive people by exposing them to attractive choices in the production and distribution of goods and services towards mere ephemeral advantages. They disguise people with some freedom to interact with them, which experiences and researches detect as a mere opium. Yet, they need people for them to engender economic growth from consumption-production cycle, without which their transactions would be less effective if not ineffective. Consequently, they enforce the establishment of private spaces for their projects to succeed at a maximum level. Contemporary capitalists even go further to institute theories, which support their behaviors in attempt to freely pursue the greatest interest. One of their theories is the Neoliberal Economic Theory, which currently influences the whole economic enterprise. However, this theory already misrepresents people and their capabilities. How can people be rescued from this misleading relationship between capitalists and people or societies so as to attain a sustainable and justifiable economic growth for all? In his capability approach, Sen argues that we need to do away with mere economic growth, which seeks to undermine a sustainable inclusive development. In fact, sustainable development requires more than utility maximization and economic growth. It requires true freedom to do what one finds worth doing in order to enjoy the outcome of one's labor. Thus, people need freedom to be and do what they have reason to value so as to generate holistic human development. For Sen, the real freedom is determined by social opportunities and rights. Hence, one needs capabilities to undertake what produces his/her wellbeing, and functionings to become what he/she wants out of participation in public endeavors. Still, Sen's capability approach seeks to pursue individual freedom towards concrete holistic individual development. One can still wonder if individual privileges can be viable to the detriment of social privileges, given that every person is a social being. Individual freedoms need to be extended to social freedoms so that both individuals and society can grow equally. Thus, Ubuntu philosophy should be embraced alongside capability approach in addressing this triple challenge of individual, economic and social development. In fact, Ubuntu philosophy promotes holistic individual and societal development. Therefore, this paper argues that the integration of capability approach and Ubuntu philosophy can provide the best responses to the challenges of Neoliberal Economic Theory and prompt holistic human and social development.