In support of a more just and sustainable human development: Furthering a capability based conception of sustainability (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Capabilities Approach and Environmental Sustainability: The Case for Functioning Constraints
Environmental Values, 2015
The capabilities approach of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum has become an influential viewpoint for addressing issues of social justice and human development. It has not yet, however, given adequate theoretical consideration to the requirements of environmental sustainability. Sen has focussed on the instrumental importance of human development for achieving sustainability, but has failed to consider the limits of this account, especially with respect to consumption-reduction. Nussbaum has criticised constraining material consumption for its paternalistic prescription of one particular conception of the good life, without considering it as an imperative of justice. We discuss two possible extensions of the capabilities approach. First, the concept of capability ceilings contains several attractive elements, but it also suffers from some shortcomings. Therefore, second, we advocate constraining people’s combinations of functionings in accordance with a personal budget which consists of a fair share of environmental resources.
Combining the Capability Approach (CA) with Sustainable Development (SD) is a promising project that has gained much attention. Recently, scholars from both perspectives have worked on narrowing gaps between these development approaches, with a focus on the connection between the CA as a partial justice theory and SD as a concept embracing justice and ecological fragility and relative scarcity. We argue that to base an SD conception on the CA, the CA must be further developed. To provide the rationale for this claim, we begin by clarifying how we look upon the relation between SD and the CA and how we understand SD (1). We then argue for an integration of the natural dimension in the CA (2). By analyzing similarities of recent contributions integrating the natural dimension, we identify how the CA structure may be developed to include the recursive relation between the human and natural dimensions and especially to include the circumstances of justice relevant to SD (3). Finally, we argue that a new recursive and dynamic CA structure is related to the debate on criteria for ‘valuable’ in the term ‘valuable functionings’ and that this points to an expansion of the CA’s evaluative space (4).
Environment, justice and the capability approach
Ecological Economics, 2013
In recent years, several studies have attempted to combine the capabilities approach with sustainable development. However, critics have pointed out that although the capability approach takes the environment into account, it has its shortcomings for not being a complete ethical theory. Our article attempts to go beyond these criticisms, and show that the capabilities approach provides a good analytical framework for an environmental justice approach.
Mapping sustainable development in a capability perspective
Online: http://cfs. unipv. it/sen/papers/ …, 2003
The importance of the notion of sustainable development has been advocated, among others, by Amartya Sen. In Sen's view it is necessary to depart from the general strategy of defining sustainable development only in terms of fulfilment of needs and to use the broader perspective of enhancing human freedoms on a sustainable basis. The ultimate goal of this paper is to outline a possible operative map of sustainable development as intended in the capability approach.
The Capability Approach: Ethics and socio-economic development
in J. Dydryk and L. Keleher (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Development Ethics, Routledge, 2019
Development processes are inherently normative. They always involve ethical judgments about what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘desirable’ change. Because ethical judgements are concerned about what should be done, laying bare the normative judgments at play, discussing what counts as development and how it can be assessed is key to designing, evaluating, and legitimising public policies. This chapter offers an overview of the capability approach, one of the most important conceptual frameworks that has contributed to this ethical debate, and compares it to other evaluative perspectives used in development policy. We discuss why a capability view of development provides the most compelling ethical framework to date for dealing with the practical and normative questions that development processes raise. We present the approach as an interdisciplinary evaluative framework which views concerns for wellbeing, equity, rights, agency and participation, freedom and justice as central to the theory and practice of development. The chapter concludes by highlighting some controversies within the capability approach and important new directions.
Sustainability and capability approach
The capability approach and sustainability can be connected in numerous ways. One could think of sustainability as a self-contained domain of human analysis -thus there could be theories of sustainability and there may be difficulties in this domain as elsewhere in moving from theory to policy or practice. Thus, capability approach could be considered as an additional lens that can facilitate the transition from sustainability theory to practice; alternatively one could think of the capability approach as offering an alternative paradigm and thus build on both theories and then find ways to move from theory to practice. In this chapter, both of these approaches are recognised and discussed. The capability approach is mainly about enhancing substantive freedoms-we examine the conjecture whether an approach of increasing freedoms is compatible with sustainability and whether freedoms are sufficient for sustainability. We use the case of Mongolia to explore some of these issues of application.
Justice and the Capability Approach
This paper will attempt to outline some of the concepts that make up the philosophical groundwork upon which the capability approach has been constructed. Amartya Sen's recent book The Idea of Justice (2009) proposes a new theory of justice which is inspired by, but also criticizes, Rawls' theory of justice. In particular, Sen favours a pragmatic, realization-focused comparison over “transcendental institutionalism”, and draws inspiration from Adam Smith's idea of the impartial spectator. This innovative paradigm raises new questions about what values should be given priority, and makes a significant contribution to the debate on equity, fairness and the role of moral discourse in policy-making. Specifically, this paper will focus on three problems: the critique of “transcendental” models in political philosophy, the role of public discourse, and the problem of global justice and discussion. Examining these concepts may help to break new ground for developing the capability approach.