Biomedical Engineering Reference
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way. His main criticism is that Rawls' theory prescribes an ideal just society,
and is not suitable for ranking different imperfect systems on their relative
justice. Sen's idea of justice aims to do just that. He stresses the role of public
reasoning in different cultural traditions (Western as well as non-Western),
in determining how a particular society can become less unjust. Whereas
Rawls proposes to let the people who will live in a particular society close a
social contract under the veil of ignorance, Sen favors an impartial observer
who can judge fairness of a society from a position of positional objectivity.
This is necessary to overcome parochialism and address questions of global
justice (Sen 2009).
In Sen's concept, divergent views on what is the more just solution in a par-
ticular case are allowed. Contrary to conventional economic theory, rational-
ity is not limited to furthering one's own personal interests. People who want
to promote the common good or the interests of other people can also be
considered to maximize these interests in an economically rational way. The
materials of justice are not public goods, as Rawls states, but capabilities of
individual persons that should be developed in a just societal arrangement.
Sen's Idea of Justice is a comparative system for ranking different actual
societies on being more or less just according to different preferences. These
preferences cannot all be ranked in one single closed ordering with one sin-
gle optimum. Instead, it is possible to use the system for comparing two
particular societies on their comparative justness in accordance with a par-
ticular set of preferences. The identification of redressable injustice is cen-
tral to Sen's theory of injustice, starting from an intuitive sense of justice. In
addition, there is a need for a formal theory of justice to enable reasoning
about our intuition and critically examining the intuition and what we can
do to overcome the perceived injustice. What kind of reasoning is appropri-
ate for ethical and political concepts like (in)justice? An impartial observer
is allowed to comment on the justness of a particular society, rather than
limiting this to the people who will live in that society. There is a clear role
for rationality and reasonableness (Sen 2009).
Grounds for judgments of justice could be freedoms, capabilities, resources,
happiness, or wellbeing. Sen's idea of justice assumes a connection between
justice and democracy. It is not enough to establish just institutions, but we
must examine how these institutions and people's behavior influence other
people's lives. The focus should be on the lives people are able to lead and on
their freedoms. Democracy is defined as government by discussion. It also
encompasses the capacity to enrich reasoned engagement through enhanc-
ing informational ability and the feasibility of interactions. It is not just about
institutions but also about enabling people to be heard. At the global level,
democracy can be seen as the possibility and reach of public reasoning.
Advancing global democracy and justice is an understandable ambition and
can inspire concrete actions (Sen 2009).
Sen's concept of justice is placed in the tradition of Western enlightenment,
but similar ideas can be found in non-Western traditions. One example is the