The Idea of Justice

A long work of political philosophy, dedicated to the memory of John Rawls and written as a friendly but sustained challenge to his approach. Sen argues that most modern theories of justice, from Hobbes to Rawls, practise transcendental institutionalism: they try to identify perfectly just institutions. He proposes instead a comparative approach focused on how people's lives actually go, asking how to reduce manifest injustices such as famine or subjection. He draws on the Sanskrit distinction between niti, organisational rules, and nyaya, realised justice, and uses the parable of three children quarrelling over a flute to show that rival claims can each rest on impartial reasons. Later parts defend Adam Smith's impartial spectator as a form of open impartiality, develop the capability approach as a way of judging advantage, and treat democracy as government by public discussion, linking it to human rights and global justice. Critics argue that comparisons still need some ideal standard and that the book is stronger in criticism than in construction.

It turns the theory of justice toward removing visible, remediable wrongs, and sets out the capability approach that now informs development economics and much public policy.