The UN agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are seen as the road map, the scaffolding, a group of guiding lights for the planet in addressing the greatest social and environmental challenges the world has ever faced. Poverty, climate change, and inequality are just some of the issues the SDGs address and request action of the world, proactively leading to solutions.
Exploring the philosophy of the SDGs, essentially to bring together what we know in order to obtain what we value
The support of the SDGs as the structure by which investment, policy and action must take, is the goal of many an activist and thought leaders’ lives. But what is the philosophy of the SDGs? How is the wisdom of the SDGs ingrained in everyday activities? How can one effectively pursue the wisdom of the SDGs, given their complexity and imbedded political agendas?
At a very basic level, philosophy is a thought process which is; critical, active, a quest for wisdom, a pursuit, a form to guide action or prescribe a way of life. Philosophy is the critical and comprehensive manner of thinking which the human species has yet devised. Which is the perfect starting point to question the SDGs, a critical device highlighting the world’s largest challenges, under which a wholistic approach, developed to ultimately lead to the appropriate focus and ultimate delivery of the Goals.
Building on the intellectual process of philosophy of SDG delivery; there continues to be a need to raise awareness of the Goals; an essential educational process. Philosophy is an essentially part of the process of education and learning; responding to societies demand for wisdom. The ambition of this blog is to explore the philosophy of the SDGs, essentially to bring together what we know in order to obtain what we value.
As different individuals have different perspective on the basic wealth of a given culture; the SDGs binds those differences together to give scope and meaning to a shared culture; a shared human culture, a culture defined by challenges and solutions.
Applied philosophy can add an element of clarity as it uses skilled analytics and critical thinking to sort through the confusion wrought by the breath-taking speed of technological development. There is a gap and failure in contemporary thought in keeping pace with society and applying various values held by communities and individuals. Philosophy seeks clear enumeration of purpose and values along with precise formation of thought processes, without which, human beings encounter: avoidance, feel-lost without purpose or meaning, without a sense of place, and lack relation to the rest of the universe. The SDG neatly gives a language and purpose to solving shared challenges, essentially providing a purpose.
Philosophy and education are the common goal of the total intellect of a person – a realisation of the human potential. The SDGs give rise to the basis, on which, the human potential has the flexibility and capability to reach its full bloom. Without the measuring and monitoring of the SDGs at the individual, community, initiative, city, regional, country or global levels, human potential becomes an after-thought without any coordinated effort ensuring that it lacks the fundamental environment to grow and thrive.
The monitoring of the how well the SDGs are raising awareness and the subsequent value-led actions are grounds for measuring how well the SDGs have enumerated purpose and value in solving these global challenges. As long as concerns and focus remained rooted on the basics of finding innovative ways to be resilient to localised, solvable challenges, such as poverty, nutrition and universal access to education, then the thought processes and the wisdom of the SDGs will be lost in the minutia of these solvable challenges.
What the SDGs need and are starting to gain providence, is on coordinated actions to address all, one or a group of SDGs. The Goals are not mutually exclusive; it has been shown that if one SDG rises to the level of being technically solved, then other related SDGs are impacted.
The philosophy of the SDGs is ingrained in the pursuit of actions or a way of life that supports the human potential of the community and those within the community. The SDGs offer a solutions roadmap to shared global challenges and thereby enhancing the basic wealth of a culture. Applied SDG philosophy gives rise to critical thoughts on actions within a community and with community actors seeking wisdom on innovative solutions.
The move toward human based technology: essentially introducing human culture in the technological context is a key element in successfully delivering the SDGs. Awareness raising coupled with education can be the only way forward in delivering the SDGs and is a key element to the philosophy of the Goals.
Technology actors such as World Wide Generation (WWG) an independent global facilitator bringing government, business, civil society and citizens together to advance the SDGs and deliver them by 2030. To achieve this bold mission WWG has been developing G17Eco, digital platform underpinned by powerful private distributed ledger technology (DLT) which aims to monitor and measure the actions of SDG education, community values, and how SDG wisdom delivers transformational change. G17Eco is constructed to deliver a breakthrough model for sustainable development which is partnership-driven, holistic and transparent, in principle underpinning the emphasis of applied philosophy of the SDGs.
Despite the very obvious political agendas ingrained within the SDGs, there remains a clear thread posed by the philosophy of the SDGs; enhancing wisdom and implies a solution-based roadmap. An appropriate process to support human potential whilst maintaining community and cultural values. Using the tools at hand, such as technology and critical thinking, the philosophy of the SDGs is to stay true to the concept of human potential, values and wisdom in seeking knowledge and successful actions.