Measuring Justice
Primary Goods and Capabilities

This book examines and evaluates two approaches to social justice, the capabilities approach and the primary goods approach.

Harry Brighouse (Edited by), Ingrid Robeyns (Edited by)

9780521884518, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 January 2010

268 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.56 kg

'… an excellent collection, which importantly contributes to deepening our understanding of the primary goods and capability approaches, and provides valuable insights for both political theorists and practitioners.' The Journal of Ethics and International Affairs

This book brings together a team of leading theorists to address the question 'What is the right measure of justice?' Some contributors, following Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, argue that we should focus on capabilities, or what people are able to do and to be. Others, following John Rawls, argue for focussing on social primary goods, the goods which society produces and which people can use. Still others see both views as incomplete and complementary to one another. Their essays evaluate the two approaches in the light of particular issues of social justice - education, health policy, disability, children, gender justice - and the volume concludes with an essay by Amartya Sen, who originated the capabilities approach.

1. Social primary goods and capabilities as metrics of justice Ingrid Robeyns and Harry Brighouse
Part I. Theory: 2. A critique on the capability approach Thomas Pogge
3. Equal opportunity, unequal capability Erin Kelly
4. Justifying the capabilities approach to justice Elizabeth Anderson
5. Two cheers for capabilities Richard Arneson
Part II. Applications: 6. Capabilities, opportunity, and health Norman Daniel
7. What metric for justice for disabled people? Capability and disability Lorella Terzi
8. Primary goods, capabilities, and children Colin MacLeod
9. Education for primary goods or for capabilities? Harry Brighouse and Elaine Unterhalter
10. Gender and the metric of justice Ingrid Robeyns
Part III. Concluding Essay: 11. The place of capability in a theory of justice Amartya Sen.

Subject Areas: Welfare economics [KCR], Political science & theory [JPA], Social & political philosophy [HPS]