Amartya Sen
An economist and philosopher, he asks us to equalise what each person can actually do and be, more than their income.
Life
Amartya Sen (born 1933 in Santiniketan, India) is an economist and philosopher, awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics. He studied famine, poverty and well-being, and proposes judging a society by what each person can actually do and be (their 'capabilities'). He also renewed thinking about justice by starting from injustices to reduce rather than from a perfect society.
Main works
Shows that famines often stem from lack of access to food rather than its absolute shortage.
Sees development as the expansion of people's real freedoms.
Proposes comparing situations to reduce injustice instead of describing a perfect society.
In his own words
« To ask how things are going and whether they can be improved is a constant and inescapable part of the pursuit of justice. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe rejects judging societies by utility or income alone and looks at the real freedoms (capabilities) people have to live lives they value.
Sen, Development as Freedom (1999); The Idea of Justice (2009)
He seeks reasoned, open public judgement of injustice that can be shared across cultures, rather than relativism.
Sen, The Idea of Justice (2009)
Freedom is both the goal and the means of development, though he stresses public action, education and health, not a minimal state.
Sen, Development as Freedom (1999)