Overview

This book brings together a team of leading theorists to address the question 'What is the right measure of justice?' Some contributors, following Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, argue that we should focus on capabilities, or what people are able to do and to be. Others, following John Rawls, argue for focussing on social primary goods, the goods which society produces and which people can use. Still others see both views as incomplete and complementary to one another. Their essays evaluate the two approaches in the light of particular issues of social justice - education, health policy, disability, children, gender justice - and the volume concludes with an essay by Amartya Sen, who originated the capabilities approach.

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9780511810916

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Reviews

'... an excellent collection, which importantly contributes to deepening our understanding of the primary goods and capability approaches, and provides valuable insights for both political theorists and practitioners.' The Journal of Ethics and International Affairs ...these highly technical essays show how matters of gender, disability, and being a child may affect the overall assessment regarding which theory should prevail. This book should seriously challenge sophisticated readers... Recommended... --A. S. Rosenbaum, Cleveland State University, CHOICE ...The editors, Harty Brighouse and Ingrid Robeyns, open the collection with a brisk and helpful general introduction that sets up the debate and provides a summary of the nine central chapters of the book.... it is a virtue of this collection that it accomplishes its focused aim in a rigorous and sustained fashion, and it is a very valuable contribution of this volume as a whole that it should make both camps in this debate more reflective about what their distinctive claims are. --Serena Olsaretti, ICREA, Pompue Fabra Umiversity and University of Cambridge, Social Theory and Practice

'... an excellent collection, which importantly contributes to deepening our understanding of the primary goods and capability approaches, and provides valuable insights for both political theorists and practitioners.' The Journal of Ethics and International Affairs

Author Information

Harry Brighouse is Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate Professor of Education Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His previous publications include On Education (2006). He was co-editor for The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism (Cambridge, 2005). Ingrid Robeyns is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She was co-editor for Amartya Sen's Work and Ideas: A Gender Perspective (2005).

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