Understanding the Importance of Amartya Sen’s Philosophy in His Economic Model

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to understand and analyze the extent to which philosophy impacts the manner in which practical economics plays out. It seeks to draw attention to the fact that there has been excessive focus on numbers and other such indicators of economic growth, causing social welfare to be severely ignored. Amartya Sen, an economist and philosopher, has written several books in order to shift this focus from growth intensive studies to those that include welfarism as well. The theories that he proposes economic systems follow are based strongly on his philosophical leanings, and throughout his work it is evident that the two fields rely heavily on each other. His fundamental philosophical thought has been analyzed and understood, followed by a detailed explanation of his suggestions in the economic sphere as well. The project then seeks to understand if there is scope to marry the concepts of growth and welfare, and to understand if this would lead to the betterment of human living conditions as we know them. Simultaneously, the final chapter seeks to evaluate and measure the extent to which his philosophy affects his economic thought. The criticisms for the same have also been taken into account, and a final conclusion is reached regarding the importance of considering human rights and freedoms in the unforgiving world of profit. The data and theories have been supplemented with graphs and figures to the best of its capability.



Author Information
Maitreyi Natarajan, Symbiosis International University, India

Paper Information
Conference: ACAH2019
Stream: Philosophy

This paper is part of the ACAH2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
Full Paper
View / Download the full paper in a new tab/window


Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Research

Posted by James Alexander Gordon