SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN A CONTEXT OF RESPONSIBILITY PHILOSOPHY OF THE 20th CENTURY (Zrównowazony rozwój w kontekscie filozofii odpowiedzialnosci XX wieku)

The aim of this article is to show the ideas and threads present in the responsibility philosophy of the 20th century (exemplified with G. Picht, H. Jonas and D. Birnbacher), which are not only fundamental for the balanced development's concept, but - most of all - they are favourable to understanding it as a constant process of building interdisciplinary proposals in this scope. Origin and realization of the sustainable development idea would not be possible without responsibility ethics, which enables - to a higher degree than other ethical systems - to discuss global conditions of human life, currently and in distant future. Responsibility ethics, that also includes the natural environment, opposes the narrowly understood economic growth. Therefore, it draws attention to something more than just the man's interest.