Reason, Freedom and Well-being

Amartya Sen

Utilitas, 2006, vol. 18, issue 01, pages 80-96

Abstract: I am embarrassed at being placed in the dizzying company of one of the truly great thinkers in the world. The similarities between Mill s ideas and mine partly reflect, of course, his influence on my thinking. But I also discuss some difficulties in taking Mill s whole theory without modification, since there are internal tensions within it. In a paper I published in 1967, I tried to discuss how Mill s willingness to hold on to some contrary positions depended on the nature of his empirical reading of the world. I draw on that diagnosis in commenting on some of the articles here. There are some serious issues of misinterpretation in one of the articles, which I try to clarify. I also comment on Arrow s interpretation of what is involved in the idea of autonomy and on his own way of assessing freedom, and acknowledge the seriousness of the questions he raises about the value of freedom in normative political philosophy.

Date: 2006

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