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Rethinking human well‐being: a dialogue with Amartya Sen
Author(s) -
Giri Ananta Kumar
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/1099-1328(200010)12:7<1003::aid-jid698>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - conceptualization , capability approach , epistemology , criticism , toleration , sociology , human development (humanity) , dualism , agency (philosophy) , individualism , perspective (graphical) , objectivity (philosophy) , environmental ethics , philosophy , law , political science , computer science , linguistics , artificial intelligence , politics
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.