Ubóstwo a realizowanie własnej wolności w odwołaniu do rozważań Amartyi Sena

• Authors: Inga Mizdrak

Title variants

EN

Poverty and Exercising of one’s Freedom in the Context of Writings of Amartya Sen

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

In theoretical literature there is a great divergence among the definitions of the essence of poverty. It is usually identifi ed as a shortage of essential material means to survive, but this characterization is not sufficient to describe the phenomenon. The multifaceted criteria of measuring poverty, its forms and causes, make it difficult to find a common ground for understanding and effective solutions. What additionally comes into play are disputes concerning doctrine and type of government preferences, which often heat up the discussion instead of enabling a move closer to a well-structured solution that aids eradicating poverty. Amartya Sen establishes the concept of poverty as a failure of basic exchange entitlements. Deciding on this approach, he consistently references the idea of freedom as an unrestricted use of one’s capabilities to pursue desired goals. Poverty then is seen here as a lack of basic exchange entitlements, and not only as a matter of low income, which in turn poses a different problem not only for the economists, but also for the governing bodies, which are responsible for eliminating poverty (and hunger in particular) in the modern world. Sen therefore suggests shifting focus from a perspective centered around income to a perspective centered around capabilities, because the former one is a more precise way of defining the essence of poverty as a state in which some basic exchange entitlements become restricted, which can furthermore widen our field of research from a strictly economic to one to an ethical/anthropological standpoint, giving a clearer picture of the distinct character of poverty and the poor. Pursuing of one’s freedom becomes problematic in the context of poverty and particularly hunger, because in this situation human exchange entitlements are restricted, “handicapped” or fail completely. Amartya Sen’s proposal to expand the number of exchange entitlements, however justified and significant to a particular individual, turns out to be insufficient, because it seems that freedom ontologically extends beyond the category human exchange entitlements.

Keywords

EN

capabilities; freedom; poverty; human rights; responsibility

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk / Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego
• Journal: Prakseologia
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 156
• Pages: 177-203

Contributors

author

Inga Mizdrak

• Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie, ul. Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Kraków

References

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