The Quality of Life

by Amartya Sen (Editor)

The idea of the quality of life is central to economic and social assessment and also to public policy, social legislation, and community programs. However, the commonly used indicators of economic success such as per capita income are at best crude measures of the quality of life. There is a
strong need for as systematic exploration of the content, reach, and relevance of the concept of the quality of life, and ways of making it concrete and usable. In this collection of essays, some leading economists and philosophers rise to that challenge and provide a wide-ranging investigation. The
essays include examination of recent attempts to replace incomes and utilities by the concept of capability and also exploration of the classic Aristotelian accounts of human flourishing, which provide insights into capability-based assessment of the quality of life. Some underlying methodological
problems are also examined, including cultural relativism and utility as a measure of advantage. Possibilities of application are discussed in the context of important practical problems, such as correcting gender-based inequalities, determining medical priorities, and promoting living standards.
The overall result is a major contribution to the understanding and use of the idea of the quality of life.

Genres: Philosophy, Economics, Nonfiction, Academic, Humanities

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Amartya Kumar Sen is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society’s poorest members.

Sen was best known for his work on the causes of famine, which led to the development of practical solutions for preventing or limiting the effects of real or perceived shortages of food. He is currently the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. He is also a senior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he previously served as Master from the years 1998 to 2004. He is the first Asian and the first Indian academic to head an Oxbridge college.

Amartya Sen's books have been translated into more than thirty languages. He is a trustee of Economists for Peace and Security. In 2006, Time magazine listed him under "60 years of Asian Heroes" and in 2010 included him in their "100 most influential persons in the world".

Reviews

[Abedijafari · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب کیفیت زندگی مجموعه مقالاتی است که توسط ناسبام و سن سفارش و گرداوری شده است.
معمولا پس از هر مقاله یک نقد هم درباره همان مقاله توسط یکی دیگر از نویسندگان ارائه شده است.
موضوع کتاب درواقع بهزیستن هست. افرادی که در این کتاب مقاله داده اند را میتوان در پارادایم توسعه قابلیتی دانست. برخی اقتصاددان و برخی فیلسوف هستند.
کتاب در 1993 نوشته شده و در 1997 بازچاپ گردیده.

[Ed Fernyhough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Putnam's essay in this is essential reading; if you read one essay from this collection then look at the Putnam one. He persuasively argues against Hume's now-sacred distinction between fact/value, which has important epistemological implications for the re-legitimisation of moral philosophy.

[Leonardo]

Citado en el artículo de Angner en Capabilities and Happiness.

[Jilany]

econ1 to-read