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- Title
RATIONAL CHOICE, CAPABILITIES AND THE MORALITY OF HUMAN WELL-BEING: THE THIRD WAY.
- Authors
Corradetti, Claudio
- Abstract
Recently the idea according to which well-being is to be valued in view of the maximization of self-utility, has been challenged by several economic theories as in particular by Sen's capability approach. This has amounted to the view according to which the "rationality" of the rational choice is something much more complex and diverse than what is a mere criterion of self-advantage. With the present essay I try to capture first the limits of rational choice theories in order to point to a more complex view of rationality. I will also discuss the role that psychology plays in such criticism and particularly in the problematization of the notion of "utility." I will then criticize two extreme and mutually exclusive interpretations that consider the capabilities either as an unconstrained list of yet to be defined human potentialities or, alternatively, as a fixed set of capabilities (Nussbaum 2006, 76-78). I will suggest that, differently from Sen's and Nussbaum's views, a third way can be defended as something based on a constrained characterization of the normative role of political judgment in conjunction with the notion of "pluralist universalism." In view of the fact that variation can be placed both across different configurations of functionings - when related to one single capability - as well as across the definition of the same list of capabilities, it follows that any list of capabilities should be contextually relevant without turning into mere relativism.
- Publication
International Journal of Ethics, 2012, Vol 8, Issue 3, p317
- ISSN
1556-4444
- Publication type
Academic Journal