Freedom and Justice in Amartya Sen's Thought
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64184/ajlps.V3.I3.Y2026.p.764-770.414Keywords:
freedom, justice, Amarten Sun, welfareAbstract
The work of Indian philosopher and economist Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, has fundamentally altered our understanding of development, well-being, and social justice. Sen has moved beyond traditional economic theories that focus solely on income and wealth as measures of progress, establishing a holistic humanistic vision that places individual freedom at the heart of development. His intellectual project, spanning decades and encompassing seminal works such as Development as Freedom, The Idea of Justice, and Rationality and Freedom, represents an ambitious attempt to redefine the fundamental concepts of economics and political philosophy, inextricably linking them to improving the quality of human life and expanding genuine individual choices. The centrality of freedom and justice in this project raises profound questions about their nature and the dialectical relationship between them. For Sen, freedom is not merely the absence of constraint or coercion, but a multidimensional concept that includes individuals' actual capabilities to live lives they value and for which they have reason to value. Justice, however, is not an unattainable ideal, but rather a practical endeavor manifested in the relentless pursuit of reducing blatant injustices in the world through free public debate and critical rationality. A deep understanding of these two concepts, and how they interact in Sen's thought, is key to grasping his entire humanistic philosophy and the alternative he offers to prevailing traditional theories. This research seeks to delve into the concepts of freedom and justice in Amartya Sen's thought by analyzing his major texts and the philosophical critiques directed at them. It will attempt to deconstruct the complex conceptual framework Sen has established, beginning with liberating the concept of freedom from its traditional framework, moving through the construction of a theory of capabilities as the basis for well-being, and culminating in the formulation of a vision of justice that transcends the search for ideal institutions to focus on realistic comparisons and the reduction of injustice. The ultimate goal is to present a comprehensive and integrated picture of Sen's understanding of freedom and justice, and to demonstrate how these two concepts together form two fundamental pillars in his project to redefine human development and a just society.
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