1,720,972 research outputs found
Indigenous Visions For Sustainable Development Law? Continuing the Conversation
No full texthttp://librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz/UOA2_A:Combined_Local:uoa_alma2117740276000209
Equalizing Opportunities Globally: Objections, Justifications, and the Way Forward
No full textHow inclusive the scope of justice is, what we take the unit of moral concern to be, and what principles we think are globally relevant are pressing questions in light of the world in which we currently live. Our answers to each of these questions heavily bear on the life chances of literally billions of people who suffer and die every year unnecessarily. Over one billion people still live in abject poverty and survive on less that $1 a day, and at least ten million children die each year before they reach the age of five. These are shocking figures when we take into account that almost all of these children are from poor communities - in short, millions of children die every year simply because of where they are born. It is clear that this is a source of severe injustice for persons who are not lucky enough to have been born into western societies. This thesis concerns itself with this injustice, and attempts to answer each of these questions with the goal of motivating real world change. I argue that the scope of justice is global, that the unit of moral concern should be persons, and that at least one justified global principle is a principle of equal opportunities. I survey some of the strongest arguments against this principle; examine two recent formulations of the ideal; as well as some of the recent objections and problems leveled against it. I claim that the principle is justified on the grounds that it satisfies the conditions of a realistic utopia, and that it remains sensitive to global cultural diversity and choice. In closing, I tentatively suggest ways of formulating realistically utopian accounts of global justice; however, my main objective is to contribute to the debate which has global justice as its aim, and to justify our obligations to others based on a global principle of equal opportunities
Strengthening the Capability Approach: The Foundations of the Capability Approach with insights from Two Challenges
No full textThe Capability Approach was initially developed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, with the first basic articulation presented in his 1979 ‘Equality of What?’ Tanner Lecture. Since then, the approach has gained a huge amount of attention as a conceptual framework which offers a clear and insightful way to measure well-being and development. Most recently, the approach has been refined and extended by Martha Nussbaum to issues of disability, nationality, and species membership in political philosophy. This project is about the foundations of the capability approach. More specifically, this project asks whether we can, and whether there are good reasons to, strengthen those foundations. The conclusions drawn here are that we ought to think seriously about the way that the capability approach develops as a theory that responds to real world challenges and change. More importantly, this project contends – in light of the challenges of future people and indigenous peoples – that there is good reason to think of new ways to ground the approach. This project takes up this challenge and grounds the approach in a modified version of Tim Mulgan’s approach to well-being. This project demonstrates that this alternative enriches the capability approach by providing us with a way of making sense of important problems, and with options for moving forward. Overall, this project asks important questions about how the capability approach could evolve based on challenges that remain relatively under-explored in the current literature. This project contributes to this literature by demonstrating that we can and ought to strengthen the capability approach and its ability to understand, take on board, and resolve these challenges
Mātauranga Māori and Science as Evolving Practices: A Philosophical Bricolage
No full textThe question of “Is mātauranga Māori science?” has gathered the attention of policy makers, the public and academics in education, science, philosophy and adjacent areas. This thesis starts by articulating its methodology, because various issues surrounding the debate have social justice implications that require scrutiny of the institution where the research happens. The methodological reflection guides the thesis to be ‘a philosophical bricolage’. I present and analyse stories, testimonies, views, and theories intimately connected with mātauranga Māori and science in the hope that collaborative progress can be made. A close examination of Māori philosophy and mātauranga has led me to the view that mātauranga Māori as an epistemic practice is underpinned by values and philosophies capable of articulating an expansive notion of knowledge that goes beyond the usual anthropocentric tunnel vision. Such anthropocentrism is indeed entrenched in some avenues of philosophy of science. By introducing a novel view in which scientific practice is considered ecological-enactive co-construction, I further point to the similarities between mātauranga Māori and science when both are considered evolving practices. These similarities expand our understanding of the connection between values and knowledge, human and nature. The thesis as a philosophical bricolage goes beyond the usual combative and exclusive framing of indigenous knowledge vs. western science by showing examples of how the evolving practices can enrich each other’s understanding of nature without being translated and appropriate
El enfoque de las capacidades como teoría de la justicia: aclaraciones y desafíos
No full textLas teorías de justicia social y global constituyen un importante e influyente corpus de investigación en filosofía política contemporánea. Estas teorías de justicia, concebidas para explicar cómo distribuir los beneficios y cargas en y entre sociedades, e interesadas en indagar qué esquemas sociales pueden justificarse, difieren en algunos aspectos importantes: 1) ¿Sobre qué bases se justifican los principios? 2) ¿Cuáles son estos principios? 3) ¿Cuáles deben ser los parámetros de justicia? 4) ¿Quién está obligado a perseguir y hacer realidad esquemas sociales justos? 5) ¿Cuál es el alcance de la justicia? y 6) ¿Cuáles son las unidades de interés pertinentes? (Robeyns, 2011)
Measuring Justice: Primary Goods and Capabilities (BOOK REVIEW)
No full textA theory of justice must provide us with answers to a number of questions. Important among them is the question of how (by what metric) we assess individual advantage, and determine when states of affairs are (more or less) just. How should we answer this question? One answer (associated with John Rawls) is the primary goods metric. According to this approach, we should focus on individual holdings of important goods. We should measure individual advantage and states of affairs based on the possession of some standardized package of goods (basic liberties, powers and prerogatives, income and wealth, and the social basis of self-respect). Another answer (associated with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum) is the capability metric. According to this approach, we ought to focus on what individuals are able to do and be. It is, on this view, not enough to focus on the possession of some standardized package of goods, but more appropriate to look at how (and whether) these goods contribute to the kinds of lives individuals are able to live. This leads proponents of the capability metric to accept (and proponents of the primary goods metric to deny) that a theory of justice must be sensitive to an individual’s ability to convert goods into functionings. ..
Reimagining the human-environment relationship : indigenous philosophy and intergenerational justice
No full textThis paper forms part of the volume Reimagining the Human-Environment Relationship for Stockholm+50. This curated collection of ideas captures, interrogates, and elevates alternative paradigms of the human-nature relationship – existing and new, and from various disciplines and societies – creating a space to recast our relationship with the environment and inform future policymaking
Resisting 'Global Justice': Disrupting the 'Emancipatory' logic of the West'1: Some considerations for the Capability Approach as a theory of justice
No full textValuing the Environment in a Diverse World
No full textWhat challenge does the diversity of values – when we are dealing with the environment – pose? More specifically, can the capability approach – given its claim to accommodate widespread cultural differences – take on board the different ways in which we value the environment? I consider this question by looking at how some indigenous peoples place value in – and understand their relationship to – the environment. My conclusion is that the capability approach seems to fall short, and that some reassessment of how the approach speaks to these values is required
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