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Symposium on Amartya Sen's philosophy: 1 Capability and freedom: a defence of Sen

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  • Pettit, Philip

Abstract

In a recent discussion of Amartya Sen's concept of the capabilities of people for functioning in their society – and the idea of targeting people's functioning capabilities in evaluating the society – G. A. Cohen accuses Sen of espousing an inappropriate, ‘athletic’ image of the person (Cohen, 1993, pp. 24–5). The idea is that if Sen's formulations are to be taken at face value, then life is valuable only so far as people actively choose most facets of their existence: if they fare well in the material stakes, for example, they must fare well as a result of active choice and effort, not because anyone else looks after them. ‘That’, says Cohen, ‘overestimates the place of freedom and activity in well-being’ (p. 25).

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  • Pettit, Philip, 2001. "Symposium on Amartya Sen's philosophy: 1 Capability and freedom: a defence of Sen," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ecnphi:v:17:y:2001:i:01:p:1-20_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahmad Jafari Samimi, 2011. "Ethonomics & the History of Economic Thought," Journal of Social and Development Sciences, AMH International, vol. 2(5), pages 223-232.
    2. HaeRan Shin, 2011. "Spatial Capability for Understanding Gendered Mobility for Korean Christian Immigrant Women in Los Angeles," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(11), pages 2355-2373, August.
    3. Ingrid Robeyns, 2016. "Capabilitarianism," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 397-414, July.
    4. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & McQuilken, James, 2016. "Ethical minerals: Fairer trade for whom?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 232-247.
    5. L.A. Duhs, 2008. "SEN'S ECONOMIC PHILOSOPHY Capabilities and Human Development in the Revival of Economics as a Moral Science," Discussion Papers Series 366, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Annie Tubadji, 2020. "Value-Free Analysis of Values: A Culture-Based Development Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-17, November.

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