One aspect of bio-diversity preservation, however, has received insufficient attention, namely the preservation of cultural identity, particularly the identity of indigenous peoples, in the face of the assimilative capacities of global capitalism. Proponents of sustainable development would readily agree that preserving cultural identity is important, even essential. The question is whether that goal is possible against the framework of background assumptions that govern discussions of sustainable development. For the foreseeable future, development will take place within the context global capitalism. The inexorable logic of global capitalism, however, drives toward monoculture.
Global capitalism molds the consumer far more than it responds to consumer desires.
Today's ideal consumer, an assimilated construct, is a far cry from Adam Smith's homo economicus . This paper questions whether cultural identity and integrity can be preserved in the face of the assimilative capacities of global capitalism. Darwall believes that Hume's approach to justice entails the view that the just person's obligation to do the just action arises from the rules she accepts. Darwall's interpretation of Hume is problematic. Darwall's interpretation does not accurately capture Hume's views concerning the agency of the just person as expressed in Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature .