IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v12y2000i7p1003-1018.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rethinking human well-being: a dialogue with Amartya Sen

Author

Listed:
  • Ananta Kumar Giri

    (Madras Institute of Development Studies, India)

Abstract

The paper undertakes a critical dialogue with the perspective of human well-being offered by Amartya Sen. Sen's notions of functioning and capability of individuals lack emphasis on self-development and how individuals can themselves advance their functioning and capability. Further, his notion of well-being as distinct from the agency aspect of the human person and his dualism of negative and positive freedom are not helpful for what Sen himself calls a comprehensive redefinition of human development as a quest for freedom. Finally, freedom is not sufficient, and development as freedom needs to be supplemented by a quest for development as responsibility. To overcome all this is difficult within Sen's frame of reference because of its lack of an ontological striving or a deep conceptualization of self and self-preparation. This prevents realization of the full potential of his quest for a wider supportive environment for human well-being, consisting of internal criticism of traditions, a pluralist framework of secular toleration and an epistemology of positional objectivity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Ananta Kumar Giri, 2000. "Rethinking human well-being: a dialogue with Amartya Sen," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(7), pages 1003-1018.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:12:y:2000:i:7:p:1003-1018
    DOI: 10.1002/1099-1328(200010)12:7<1003::AID-JID698>3.0.CO;2-U
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen, Amartya, 1989. "Food and freedom," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 769-781, June.
    2. Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen, 1994. "Sustainable Human Development: Concepts and Priorities," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-1994-03, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    3. Sen, Amartya, 1998. "Human development and financial conservatism," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 733-742, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Des Gasper, 2002. "Is Sen's Capability Approach an Adequate Basis for Considering Human Development?," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 435-461.
    2. Des Gasper, 2000. "Development as freedom: taking economics beyond commodities-the cautious boldness of Amartya Sen," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(7), pages 989-1001.
    3. Truong, T.-D., 2009. "Feminist knowledge and human security," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18712, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    4. Ali DOUAI, 2007. "Wealth, Well-being and Value(s): A Proposition of Structuring Concepts for a (real) Transdisciplinary Dialogue within Ecological Economics," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2007-18, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    5. Des Gasper, 2004. "Human Well-being: Concepts and Conceptualizations," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2004-06, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Abhipsa Pal & Rahul De’ & Tejaswini Herath, 2020. "The Role of Mobile Payment Technology in Sustainable and Human-Centric Development: Evidence from the Post-Demonetization Period in India," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 607-631, June.
    7. Abdul Razak, Azila & Asutay, Mehmet, 2022. "Financial inclusion and economic well-being: Evidence from Islamic Pawnbroking (Ar-Rahn) in Malaysia," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Brenda Parlee & Chris Furgal, 2012. "Well-being and environmental change in the arctic: a synthesis of selected research from Canada’s International Polar Year program," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 13-34, November.
    9. Gasper, D.R., 2007. "Human Rights, Human Needs, Human Development, Human Security," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18749, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    10. Des Gasper, 2005. "Subjective and Objective Well-Being in Relation to Economic Inputs: Puzzles and Responses," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 177-206.
    11. Gasper, D.R., 2004. "Human well-being : concepts and conceptualizations," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19148, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    12. Gasper, D.R., 2002. "Is Sen's Capability Approach an Adequate Basis for Considering Human Development," ISS Working Papers - General Series 50674, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    13. Gasper, D.R. & van der Maesen, L.J.G. & Truong, T.-D. & Walker, A., 2008. "Human security and social quality: contrasts and complementaries," ISS Working Papers - General Series 18731, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    14. Fabio Zagonari, 2011. "Which Ethics Will Make us Individually and Socially Happier? A Cross-Culture and Cross-Development Analytical Model," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 77-103, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steven Pressman & Gale Summerfield, 2000. "The Economic Contributions of Amartya Sen," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 89-113.
    2. Michael Grimm & Stephan Klasen & Ken Harttgen & Mark Misselhorn & Teresa Munzi & Timothy Smeeding, 2008. "Inequality in Human Development: An empirical assessment of thirty-two countries," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 178, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Dimitar Eftimoski, 2006. "Factors Limiting Investment In Human Capital In Macedonia," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 8(20), pages 50-59, June.
    4. Murray, Christopher J. L. & Acharya, Arnab K., 1997. "Understanding DALYs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 703-730, December.
    5. Ming‐Chang Tsai, 2006. "Does Political Democracy Enhance Human Development in Developing Countries?," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 233-268, April.
    6. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    7. Willems, Jurgen, 2015. "Individual perceptions on the participant and societal functionality of non-formal education for youth: Explaining differences across countries based on the human development index," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 11-20.
    8. Lizethe Berenice Méndez-Heras. & Francisco Venegas-Martínez. & Diego Emilio Linthon-Delgado., 2021. "El impacto del crédito bancario sobre el desarrollo humano en México: un análisis de datos panel a nivel estatal, 2004-2016. (The Impact of Bank Credit on Human Development in Mexico: A Data Analysis ," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(1), pages 1-28, May.
    9. R. Frey & Ali Al-Roumi, 1999. "Political Democracy and the Physical Quality of Life: The Cross-National Evidence," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 73-97, May.
    10. Majah-Leah Ravago & James Roumasset, 2009. "Economic Policy for Sustainable Growth and Development vs. Greedy Growth and Preservationism," Working Papers 200909, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    11. Cagatay, Nilüfer. & Ertürk, Korkuk., 2004. "Gender and globalization : a macroeconomic perspective," ILO Working Papers 993709743402676, International Labour Organization.
    12. Barrientos, Armando & Gorman, Mark & Heslop, Amanda, 2003. "Old Age Poverty in Developing Countries: Contributions and Dependence in Later Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 555-570, March.
    13. Marks, Stephen P., 2010. "Human Rights in Development: Claims and Controversies," Bangladesh Development Studies, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), vol. 33(1-2), pages 1-23, March-Jun.
    14. Marlena Gołaś & Piotr Sulewski & Adam Wąs & Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska & Kinga Pogodzińska, 2020. "On the Way to Sustainable Agriculture—Eco-Efficiency of Polish Commercial Farms," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-24, September.
    15. Tran, Nguyen Van & Tran, Quyet Van & Do, Linh Thi Thuy & Dinh, Linh Hong & Do, Ha Thi Thu, 2019. "Trade off between environment, energy consumption and human development: Do levels of economic development matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 483-493.
    16. Nicola Walshe & Zoe Moula & Elsa Lee, 2022. "Eco-Capabilities as a Pathway to Wellbeing and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-24, March.
    17. E. M. Young, 2004. "Globalization and food security: novel questions in a novel context?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Morse, Stephen, 2006. "Making development simple. The genetic deterministic hypothesis for economic development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 79-88, January.
    19. Emanuele Felice, 2012. "Neither dashboard nor 'mashup' indices: an empirical wealth approach as a pathway to a comprehensive measure of development," UHE Working papers 2012_01, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament d'Economia i Història Econòmica, Unitat d'Història Econòmica.
    20. Elson, Diane & Cagatay, Nilufer, 2000. "The Social Content of Macroeconomic Policies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1347-1364, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:12:y:2000:i:7:p:1003-1018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.