ABSTRACT
The geographical picture of the North–South divide is determined by the definition of development that is adopted. If, therefore, development can be simultaneously understood and defined in many ways, then it is possible for many global Norths and global Souths to coexist in parallel. Built on varying philosophical premises and planes, North–South dichotomies may have completely different cartographic representations, and the legitimacy of each divide is relative, and open to question and debate. This chapter focuses exclusively on challenging the belief in the universality of any conception of the world being divided into highly and poorly developed countries. To this end, the thinking and studies of several philosophers, academics, and institutions over the past 2,500 years is called into service as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Jared Diamond, and the UNDP.
