Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, - PowerPoint Presentation

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Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, Durham University) Professor Stuart Corbridge (Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University ) Rev Dr Augusto Zampini Davies (Theological Advisor, CAFOD; Honorary Fellow, Durham University) Dr Séverine Deneulin (Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath)

The

Idea of Freedom:

Reading Amartya Sen from a Catholic perspective Slide2

Trade with the gifts God has given you.Bend your minds to holy learning that you may escape the fretting moth of littleness of mind that would wear out your souls.

Brace your wills to action that they may not be the spoil of weak desires.Train your hearts and lips to sing which gives courage to the soul.

Being buffeted by trials, learn to laugh.Being reproved, give thanks.Having failed, determine to succeed.Slide3

A C Pigou 1877-1959Slide4

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Vilfredo Pareto 1848-1923Slide7

Kenneth Arrow1921-Slide8

Amartya Sen in 2010Slide9

Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, Durham University) Professor Stuart Corbridge (Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University ) Rev Dr Augusto Zampini Davies (Theological Advisor, CAFOD; Honorary Fellow, Durham University) Dr Séverine Deneulin (Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath)

The

Idea of Freedom:

Reading Amartya Sen from a Catholic perspective Slide10

Development as Freedom “no society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged”. (Adam Smith: The Wealth of Nations)

Stuart CorbridgeSlide11

Amartya Kumar Sen1. 1933 Dhaka, educated Santinikiten, Presidency College, Calcutta, and Cambridge. 2. Phenomenal early career (Chair in Economics at Jadavpur University by age 23), later built upon via DSE, LSE, Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge (Nobel in 1998), and now Harvard again.

3. Economics, moral philosophy and huge range across ‘development studies’, India.

4. Events: GBF; Partition (Kader Mia); Ken ArrowSlide12
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SubstantiveFamine: from FAD to exchange entitlements; “no famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy” (DAF, 16). Gender: 100 million missing women. Most women do not enjoy the same substantive freedoms (or capabilities)as men – and not just in poor countries.

HDI: versus crude focus on GDP per capitaSecularism and Tolerance: Hindutva and public intellectuals such as Ashis

Nandy and Partha ChatterjeeSlide14

Development as FreedomThe bases of Sen’s account of development as freedom are to be found in his understanding of the proper spaces for economic, political and moral evaluation. Sen’s analyses of poverty and famines, or of the importance of capabilities in securing substantive human freedoms, follow directly from his critique of contending accounts of the meaning of development and the measurement of economic success.Slide15

One possible space… Sen has objected to utilitarianism on the ground that it provides for a space of economic evaluation which is insensitive to human difference and thus to the distinct needs and capabilities of individual human agents. As he put it in the Radcliffe Lectures of 1972: “The trouble with this approach is that maximizing the sum of individual utilities [pleasure, happiness, welfare] is supremely unconcerned with the interpersonal distribution of that sum. This should make it particularly unsuitable for measuring or judging inequality” Slide16

Also opposes Libertarianism and market fundamentalism “The proposal of a consequence-independent theory of political priority is afflicted by considerable indifference to the substantive freedoms that people end up having – or not having. We can scarcely agree to accept simple procedural rules irrespective of consequences – no matter how dreadful and totally unacceptable these consequences might be for the lives of the people involved” (ibid).Slide17

Edging away from John Rawls For Rawls, all humans should be endowed with a minimum set of primary goods (including education and an income) subject only to a prior rule that would guarantee equal personal liberties. Sen argues that a strict equation cannot be drawn between primary goods and well-being because the former cannot always be converted into the latter. “For example, a pregnant woman may have to overcome disadvantages in living comfortably and well that a man need not have, even when both have exactly the same income and other primary goods” (IR, 27).Slide18

The punchline - 1“Development consists of the removal of various types of unfreedoms that leave people with little choice and little opportunity of exercising their reasoned agency. The removal of substantial unfreedoms … is constitutive of development. However, for a fuller understanding of the connection between development and freedom we have to go beyond this basic recognition (crucial as it is). The intrinsic importance of human freedom, in general, as the preeminent objective of development is strongly supplemented by the instrumental effectiveness of freedoms of particular kinds to promote freedoms of other kinds. The linkages between different types of freedoms are empirical and causal, rather than constitutive and compositional” Slide19

Punchline - 2 “For example, there is strong evidence that economic and political freedoms help to reinforce one another, rather than being hostile to one another (as they are sometimes taken to be [though see III below]). Similarly, social opportunities of education and health care, which may require public action, complement individual opportunities of economic and political participation and also help to foster our own initiatives in overcoming our respective deprivations. If the point of departure of the approach lies in the identification of freedom as the main object of development, the reach of the policy analysis lies in establishing the empirical linkages that make the viewpoint of freedom coherent and cogent as the guiding perspective of the process of development” (DAF, xii).Slide20

The good life … DAF aims to reconcile difference and universalism: we all define the good life differently and according to our needs, but for anyone to be capable of leading a good life certain minimum standards must be met. For Sen, these include both negative and positive freedoms, including the right to participate in markets.Slide21

Functionings and capabilities‘Functionings’ refer to the things that a person may value doing or being, and thus denotes a freedom to achieve a certain lifestyle (after DAF, 75). ‘Capabilities’ refer to the sets of resources (physical, mental and social) that a person might command and which give rise to various ‘functionings’. As Sen points out: “The evaluative focus [space] of this ‘capability approach’ can be either on the realized functionings (what a person is actually able to do) or on the capability set of alternatives she has (her real opportunities). The two give different types of information - the former about the things a person does and the latter about the things a person is substantively free to do” (ibid., emphasis in the original). Slide22

Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, Durham University) Professor Stuart Corbridge (Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University ) Rev Dr Augusto Zampini Davies (Theological Advisor, CAFOD; Honorary Fellow, Durham University) Dr Séverine Deneulin (Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath)

The

Idea of Freedom:

Reading Amartya Sen from a Catholic perspective Slide23

Amartya Sen’s capability approach:contributions to CSTAugusto Zampini-Davies 26th February 2016

Durham UniversitySlide24

IntroductionReasons for mutual enrichment between CST and CAContributions from CA to CSTIntegral development: economics & genderIntegral ecology: public reasoning processes (dialogue) Integral spirituality: participation & agency (social & doctrinal)Contributions from an alliance between CST-CAA narrative beyond utilitarianismInspiring narratives for actual human flourishingEconomics of inclusion

Diálogo y Alborozo (Luis Seoane, 1970)

Structure of the paperSlide25

Sen’s CACSTEmphasis on the individualThe good undefinedTotal openness for list of capabilitiesConsequentialismPrimacy of reasonOptimism on rationalityEmphasis on relationshipsNature of the goodBasic human needsTeleologismReason & faithNotion of sin

TensionsSlide26

Main reasons for a CA-CST allianceStarting point (Bottom-up approach): the poor & injusticesBasis for development: freedom & relationalityUnderstanding of human flourishing and universal development: integralIdea of justice: practical (virtue), gradual & imperfect (eschatological), democratic (dialogical)

Approach to economics: ethical & engineeringCritical analysis of utilitarianism, libertarianism & communism, and globalisationSlide27

CA CSTThe CA does not offer an agenda for social transformation. It is an open-ended language ‘with various bits to be filled in’ (Sen 1993: 48) ‘The Church does not presume to settle scientific questions… but can encourage an honest and open debate so that particular ideologies will not prejudice the common good (LS 188)7. No specific political economic solution,

on their own. Engagement does matterSlide28

Contributions from CA to CSTIntegral development: for all dimension of the person, for all persons. Integral Ecology: cry of the earth and cry of the poor. Interconnectedness. Integral spirituality: integrating relationships with other people, other creatures, the earth, and God. Slide29

Contributions CA to CST (II)Integral development: economics and genderIntegral Ecology: process of dialogue Integral spirituality: agency & participation, practical & doctrinal Slide30

Integral Human DevelopmentAll the personAll personsSlide31

Integral ecology“Positive judgement” Aims at a new long-term and comprehensive (integral) view, integrating economic, cultural, political, social and ecological issues. Calls for a united vision – not competing needs or solving one issue first without looking at othersBased on a refreshed anthropology (The Gospel of Creation)Socio-environmental (cry of the earth and cry of the poor)

Ecology of daily life & macroeconomics; common good & human dignity; cultural ecologyThrough DIALOGUE (action)Slide32

Integral spirituality: agency & participation. Personal & civic loveParticipation in defining and deploying developmentParticipation in the process of public dialogueParticipation in the doctrinal development of CSTSlide33
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Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, Durham University) Professor Stuart Corbridge (Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University ) Rev Dr Augusto Zampini Davies (Theological Advisor, CAFOD; Honorary Fellow, Durham University) Dr Séverine Deneulin (Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath)

The

Idea of Freedom:

Reading Amartya Sen from a Catholic perspective Slide36

Contributions of CST to Sen’s workSéverine Deneulin26th February 2016 Durham UniversitySlide37

CST can offer to CAA more relational anthropologyA more realistic account of human failure (‘structural sin’)A stronger motivation for ‘making the world a little less unjust ‘ (Sen 2009: 25)Focus on 3 contributionsSlide38

Intro: What is capability approach?Sen’s unwillingness to have things settledNot a social theoryNot a theory of justiceA moral approach to assess situations from the perspective of freedom (wellbeing and agency)Slide39

Relational anthropologyEthical individualism and beyondIndividual dignity and the common goodEvaluation of states of affairs in how well individuals are doing is not enoughSlide40

Structural sinExercise of human agency can lead to structural sins.From personal to structuralCommunity conversion (LS)Slide41

MotivationAgency and responsibilityAwareness of interconnectednessAttitudes to counter utilitarian mindsetSlide42

Dr Mark Hayes (St Hilda Chair in Catholic Social Thought and Practice, Durham University) Professor Stuart Corbridge (Vice-Chancellor and Warden of Durham University ) Rev Dr Augusto Zampini Davies (Theological Advisor, CAFOD; Honorary Fellow, Durham University) Dr Séverine Deneulin (Associate Professor in International Development, University of Bath)

The

Idea of Freedom:

Reading Amartya Sen from a Catholic perspective