Symposium on Amartya Sen's Philosophy: 1 Capability and Freedom: a Defence of Sen
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چکیده
In a recent discussion of Amartya Sen's concept of the capabilities of people for functioning in their society ± and the idea of targeting people's functioning capabilities in evaluating the society ± G. A. Cohen accuses Sen of espousing an inappropriate, `athletic' image of the person (Cohen, 1993, pp. 24±5). The idea is that if Sen's formulations are to be taken at face value, then life is valuable only so far as people actively choose most facets of their existence: if they fare well in the material stakes, for example, they must fare well as a result of active choice and effort, not because anyone else looks after them. `That', says Cohen, `overestimates the place of freedom and activity in well-being' (p. 25). I think that if it were accurate, then Cohen's criticism would be damaging. It amounts to the charge that just as a theorist like Hannah Arendt (1958) may be said to have an overactive image of democracy ± an image under which democratic life involves a relentless rondo of meetings and debates ± so Amartya Sen suggests an overactive image of social flourishing more generally. People will flourish according to Sen's formula, so the charge goes, only if they maintain an unyielding control of their affairs and their fortunes. Like health-conscious holidaymakers, they will maintain a stern regime of early rising, hard walking, and brisk swimming; they won't ever lounge or bask. As against this accusation, however, I believe that Sen (1993, pp. 43±4) is quite right when he says: `athleticism was never intended,
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