 Rethinking human well-being: a dialogue with Amartya SenAnanta Kumar Giri
Journal of International Development, 2000, vol. 12, issue 7, 1003-1018 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. Date: 2000 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/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 Access Statistics for this article Journal of International Development is currently edited by Paul Mosley and Hazel Johnson More articles in Journal of International Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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