Date of Award
1-20-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Joy Gordon
Abstract
The relationship between capitalism and environmental sustainability and how problems arising from this relationship can be resolved globally and locally is vital for those with economic and environmental concerns. The environment that provides human beings with essential survival needs has to be preserved if these needs are expected to be available for future generations while also being enough for the present generation of human beings. One obstacle to protecting the environment is climate change due to global warming. What is responsible for global warming that ultimately leads to environmental unsustainability? This study pursues this question by rethinking the relationship between the capitalist economic system and the phenomenon of environmental sustainability. It does so through an analysis and description of the complex operative mechanisms of the capitalist economic system, which impacts the environment. This study discovers that the concept of a market economy oriented towards profit-making is central to the capitalist economic system and fittingly mirrors the unsustainable relationship between human beings and the natural environment. Originating from the West, capitalism spreads its influence beyond the West. The success of its continued progress has been the failure of a sustainable environment. This failure transverses the global coasts as much as it devastates the local terrains, such as the Nigerian context. The solution to the problem that capitalism creates cannot be found within the capitalist economic system. A fundamental alteration in capitalism is exigent. New approaches to economic and social relationships need to be adopted. One outstanding approach is found in the indigenous philosophy of Ubuntu—a concept that emphasizes the need for collaborative thinking, doing, and living. This resource is valuable for local and global policymakers, economists, and environmentalists searching for solutions to international and regional environmental crises.
Recommended Citation
Madu, Chukwuebuka Emmanuel, "Rethinking the Relationship between Capitalism and Environmental Sustainability: Locating Nigeria within the Globe" (2025). Master's Theses. 4563.
https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/4563
