In the contemporary world, globalization has transformed development from a seemingly linear and nationally bounded project into a complex, contested, and multi-scalar process shaped by global interdependence, technological acceleration, cultural hybridization, ecological limits, and new forms of inequality. This article offers a philosophical reinterpretation of the concept of development in the context of globalization by re-examining its ontological assumptions, epistemological foundations, and normative orientation. Building on major debates in social philosophy, critical theory, world-systems analysis, and human development approaches, the study argues that development can no longer be coherently understood as a universal trajectory of modernization measured primarily by economic growth. Instead, it should be approached as a plural and reflexive horizon of human flourishing that emerges through negotiated values, institutional capacities, and the ethical governance of risk within global networks. The article proposes an analytical framework that distinguishes development as material capability expansion, as socio-cultural meaning-making, and as ecological and civilizational sustainability. Using a conceptual-analytical methodology supported by comparative reading of classical and contemporary theorists, the paper synthesizes key outcomes of this reinterpretation: the displacement of teleological progress narratives, the rise of relational and capability-centered evaluation, and the need to integrate vulnerability, dignity, and planetary boundaries into development theory. The discussion highlights the implications for policy reasoning, educational discourse, and global ethics, emphasizing that a philosophically reconstructed concept of development must address both empowerment and responsibility in an interconnected world.  

Globalization, development, progress, modernization

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