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Don't reduce Amartya Sen to a single identity!

Author

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  • Antoinette Baujard

    (UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne, GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper reviews Amartya's Sen autobiography, Home in the World. A Memoir (Penguin Press, published08/07/2021, 480 pages. ISBN: 9781846144868), focused on his thirty first years of life. I show that the book emphasizes how Sen values discussions and reason, the voice of each human being in their plurality, and their capacity to act in and on the world. I also support that, in this memoir, Sen succeeds in circumventing the standard misunderstandings of his major contributions, by taking seriously the different potential interpretations of the thinkers who influenced his line of thinking, and defending the one he considers valid. I illustrate this claim with five cases which, by highlighting his multiple identities, avoid associating Sen to a misguided tag.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoinette Baujard, 2022. "Don't reduce Amartya Sen to a single identity!," Working Papers halshs-03633564, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-03633564
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03633564
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Antoinette Baujard & Muriel Gilardone, 2017. "Sen is not a capability theorist," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Evelyn L. Forget, 2005. "Same View, Many Lenses," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 37(2), pages 205-210, Summer.
    3. Antoinette Baujard & Muriel Gilardone, 2017. "Sen is not a capability theorist," Post-Print halshs-01381405, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Amartya Sen; Welfare; Discussion; Reason; Identities; Memoir;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

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