Status Updates From The Idea of Justice

Comforting to read that one of Sen’s conclusion at the end of his chapter on “institutions and persons” is that we can’t trust them completely. Similar to the early anti-authoritarian update, he ends with the importance “to ask how things are going and whether they can be improved is a constant and inescapable part of the pursuit of justice."

Liberating is Amartya Sen’s critique and scrutiny of John Rawls’ theory of justice in his book. He also enlightens us about the origins of the Magna Carta, the classical legal document on democratic governance—emphasizing that its founders were anti-authoritarian. They introduced laws to hold those in power accountable, a principle we have forgotten today or lost the ability to enforce.