Saturday, September 05, 2009

Samuel Brittan on Sen's "The Idea of Justice"

In "Financial Times" Samuel Brittan comments on Amartya Sen's new book "The Idea of Justice":

We do not prosper by income or happiness alone

"Mr Sen supports the piecemeal removal of specific injustices in the absence of an ideal society. So, although he does not quite put it like that, he supports those applied economists and jurists who try to apply Rawls on a piecemeal basis. The two writers have in common an insistence that basic freedoms of choice and opportunity are important, and not just income or “happiness”. I would happily recommend Mr Sen’s new book, read selectively with those chiefly interested in politics and economics moving swiftly from the introduction to the final chapters. Those wanting to catch up on modern political philosophy should then turn back."

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