ABSTRACT
What is development? In which directions could and should societies develop? What are the drivers of development? There are no simple answers to any of these questions. Multiple opinions and arguments have been advanced and discussed by philosophers, scientists, politicians and members of society in general. Different answers have shaped the evolution of societies, the direction and types of technological progress as well as our value systems, the modes of economic production and the relationship between humans and nature. This chapter outlines three main paradigms that over the last century have dominated the thinking about development in industrialized countries:
the economic growth paradigm, highlighting the role of capital accumulation and aggregated production;
the innovation paradigm, highlighting the importance of novelty, interactive and cumulative knowledge and qualitative change;
the human development paradigm, focusing on individual freedom and well-being, highlighting distributional justice, quality of life and self-determination.
