Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, is Lamont University Professor, Harvard University. He is known for his contributions to welfare economics, for his work on human development theory, welfare economics, famine, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, gender inequality, and political liberalism. He is a distinguished economist-philosopher who won the 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on welfare economics.
Amartya Sen has one idea in his "the idea of Justice". He claims that John Rawls' theory of justice relies on just institutions working with a social contract towards a transcendental (i.e. unachievable?) vision of a perfectly just society. Sen critiques this for ignoring real actual achievable outcomes, excluding wider interests and failing to address behavior. He proposes instead that justice should operate by comparing actual outcomes through a process of `unrestricted'(page 44) public reasoning. He offers one example, of whether a flute should belong to a child who can play it, a child who has no other toys, or the child who made it (although he frequently but vaguely refers to meta-examples of slavery and women's rights).
The author argues that economists have tended to content themselves with an overly simple picture of human motivation, rationality and well-being. The author argues that people are not purely self-interested. They care for others and observe social norms. They do not always reason mechanistically, seeking least-cost to given ends. They question the point of their aims and the worth of their wants. Well-being has no single measure but is comprehensible. Its elements are many and do not amount to just utility or some cash value equivalent.
Tying the whole together is the author's confidence that, though values are complex, economics provides tools for thinking clearly about complexity.
The author concludes with democracy which can take many institutional forms. But non succeds without open debate about values and principles. To that vital element in public reason, 'The Idea of Justice' is an important contribution.
Amartya Sen has one idea in his "the idea of Justice". He claims that John Rawls' theory of justice relies on just institutions working with a social contract towards a transcendental (i.e. unachievable?) vision of a perfectly just society. Sen critiques this for ignoring real actual achievable outcomes, excluding wider interests and failing to address behavior. He proposes instead that justice should operate by comparing actual outcomes through a process of `unrestricted'(page 44) public reasoning. He offers one example, of whether a flute should belong to a child who can play it, a child who has no other toys, or the child who made it (although he frequently but vaguely refers to meta-examples of slavery and women's rights).
The author argues that economists have tended to content themselves with an overly simple picture of human motivation, rationality and well-being. The author argues that people are not purely self-interested. They care for others and observe social norms. They do not always reason mechanistically, seeking least-cost to given ends. They question the point of their aims and the worth of their wants. Well-being has no single measure but is comprehensible. Its elements are many and do not amount to just utility or some cash value equivalent.
Tying the whole together is the author's confidence that, though values are complex, economics provides tools for thinking clearly about complexity.
The author concludes with democracy which can take many institutional forms. But non succeds without open debate about values and principles. To that vital element in public reason, 'The Idea of Justice' is an important contribution.
Here's another book on motivation and the unconscious and subconscious: "What you Don't Know You Know." It's by Kenneth Eisold and talks about the complexity of human motivation and why people do the things they do (in terms of the unconscious). It helps give an understanding of, for just one example, of the dangers we face as a society through the manipulation of anxiety and the seductions of computer technology. Very interesting stuff, to go along with this book as well.
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