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Human Development &
Capability Association

Agency, Well-Being and Justice

Video and Webinar Archive

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Sen’s Broad Consequentialism, Legitimate Freedoms and Biodiversity Loss

Speaker: Andrew Crabtree

Amartya Sen has been unjustly criticized for having an apparently lassiez faire approach to freedoms. For some, he appears to place no limits on the freedoms people may have. Such a criticism fails to take Sen’s work on consequentialism – his so-called broad consequentialism – into consideration. Nor too does it discuss his work on responsibility. Thus, the first part of this paper outlines Sen’s “broad consequentialism”, which takes agency, processes and social relationships of people into consideration, and contrasts it and its benefits, with traditional consequentialism. This section also criticizes Sen’s approach for being unclear in terms of prioritization, especially in relation to rights which is left to a vague discussion of public reasoning (Sen, 2008). Section 2 begins by outlining a legitimate freedom or critical contractualist approach to the limits of freedoms is defended which, drawing on Scanlon (1998) and Forst (2011), emphasises the importance of justification to others. It defends the approach against Sen’s criticisms of Scanlon which, I shall maintain involves a misunderstanding of Scanlon’s work as providing a unique set of principles for all cases (Sen, 2008).

HDCA Webinar 2024 European Network
55 minutes

A conceptual review of the narrative on sustainability from the perspective of the capability approach

Speaker: Philippa Shepherd, a doctoral student at Université Grenoble Alpes, France, is doing research on the vulnerability and resilience of work capability in the French Alps amidst the challenges of climate change.

Many scholars have explored, critiqued, and developed upon the integration of the notion of sustainability within capability theory. Being human-centred, the capability approach emphasises human flourishing, dignity, equity, and justice issues with regard to sustainability, bringing to the fore the human in sustainable human development. However, scholars have highlighted theoretical discord between the two development paradigms, drawing attention to the underlying individualism of the capability approach and the understated role of the environment and nature in generating and safeguarding people’s capabilities. The sustainability-capability narrative has thus resulted in expansions of capability theory making explicit the environmental dimension and the notion of collective capability. In this presentation, Philippa explores some seminal papers illustrating the conceptual compatibility (or not) between sustainable development and the capability approach. 

HDCA Webinar 2024 European Network HDCA Videos
54 minutes

Racism and Ill-Being

In this webinar, Professor Crain Soudien, Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town and a long-standing researcher in the field of racism and education takes us through some of the conceptual issues in thinking about racism. Following his presentation, are reflections from Mikateko Mathebula, Faith Mkwananzi, Oliver Mutanga, Daizy Nalwamba, and Melanie Walker. Their insights will contribute to our understanding of the complex ways in which systemic racism influences our work.

HDCA Webinar 2023 HDCA Videos
103 minutes

Plenary 3: Panel Discussion: Sustainable Development through Evidence-Based and Collaborative Policymaking: The Case of Removing Financial Barriers to Early Education in Bulgaria Discussion

Keynote Speaker: Joost De Laat
Professor of Economics and Director, Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges, The Netherlands

Chair: Eugenia Volen
Director, Early Learning and Care Program, Trust for Social Achievement

Discussants:
Denitsa Sacheva, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour, Social and Demographic Policy, National Assembly of Republic of Bulgaria
Deyan Kolev, Chairman, AMALIPE Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance

HDCA Conference 2023
72 minutes
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