I propose a discussion on my PDF-PowerPoint "Thoughts on Amartya Sen". I used this PDF-PowerPoint for the lecture held on Sunday, 17th November 2024 at the International Conference “RECLAIMING ROOTS: THE ADIVASI QUESTION AND THE ROLE OF MEDIA, MOVEMENTS, POLICY, AND POLITICS IN DEVELOPMENT”, organised by the CARD Odisha in Association with IIITM Gwalior, IIT Mandi, IIT Bhubaneswar & Ravenshaw University, Cuttack (15th, 16th, 17th November 2024).

I am working on a text which develops the contents of the PowerPoint.

In my contribution, I would like to present through some aspects of Amartya Sen’s works that a model for a new public policy consists in the uncovering of specific forms of deception strategies present in the political and social scene. These deception strategies aim to persuade individuals that there is no alternative to certain ways of thinking, to certain ways of organizing societies, to certain ways of interpreting concepts: thus, these deception strategies aim to persuade individuals that a kind of single, dominant, irrefutable thought rules and that it is right that it be so.

I shall develop my contribution through the analysis of some aspects of Amartya Sen’s philosophy. My principal aim will consist in finding, with the help of Sen’s observations, instruments in order to show that a new model for public policy first of all means – at least in my opinion – the process of uncovering that concepts and events are not so simple and not so univocal as they very often are presented to be. For instance, a concept like “development” can find interpretations that are very different from each other, depending on whether development is exclusively identified with economic and income growth, or, alternatively, depending on whether development is to be interpreted as the whole growth of the capabilities and freedoms both of the individual and of the society (the second interpretation corresponds to Sen’s interpretation of the concept “development”).

Sen’s thinking can be portrayed as a teaching against fatalism, indifference, resignation and inaction, on the one side, and as an appeal to the assumption of one’s own responsibilities, on the other side: Sen wants to uncover the deep roots of political and social fatalism, since this kind fatalism is, actually, not neutral, but, on the contrary, aims to conceal precise responsibilities. Sen fights both in economics and in ethics against every kind of deception: he often denounces that, within the economic, social and political thought, deception strategies aim to conceal, behind the mask of the unavoidability allegedly dictated by the nature of things, failures actually due to human mistakes; unavoidable economic destiny is, actually, not so unavoidable as someone would like to present it.

Therefore, Sen’s project regarding development and freedom proves to be, among other things, a project of uncovering deception strategies: for instance, Sen’s opinion that famines are not a natural, but a social phenomenon aims to uncover all attempts to present famines as something unavoidable, in relation to which the only solution is resignation. Sen points out that all those presenting famines as a natural phenomenon, actually want to conceal their own responsibilities for the occurring of famines. Hunger and famines are not, in other words, natural phenomena against which there is nothing to do; they are social phenomena having precise responsible agents; neither do famines represent an integral, constitutive, unavoidable element of the modern world: they can be prevented if there is the political will to prevent them. Sen continuously aims at promoting the control of government and of public authority: governments try to blame on nature the cause of catastrophes, whereas the causes of social catastrophes are to be connected to the inefficiency of governments. Sen’s meditation proves to be a continuous defence and promotion of democracy, rights and freedom against all attempts to diminish their value: in particular, Sen sees democracy as a system which is compatible with economic growth, thus opposing all those who consider democracy as an obstacle to economic growth. My attention will, thereafter, be concentrated on Sen’s interpretation of the concept of development, which in Sen’s opinion cannot be limited to the income of the individuals or to the growth of GNP, but should be extended to individuals’ freedoms, human rights, health care, opportunities of education and further entitlements. Development is, in Sen’s opinion, the progressive growth of the individual capabilities, whereas all interpretations of development based only on the measurement of the gross domestic product and of the individual income are insufficient.

I shall finally refer to Sen’s pointing out the dangers related to the absolute view of the cultural identity, if this view is connected to economic and political strategies: certain interpretations of cultural identities do bring about catastrophes, as it can be shown by means of the attitudes of British politicians towards Irishmen as possessing an inferior culture during the Irish famines, or by the attitudes of British politicians towards Indians during the Great Bengal famine). I shall finally refer to Sen’s pointing out the dangers related to the absolute view of cultural identity, if this view is connected to economic and political strategies: certain interpretations of cultural identities do bring about catastrophes, as it can be shown by means of the attitudes of British politicians towards Irishmen as possessing an inferior culture during the Irish famines, or by the attitudes of British politicians towards Indians during the Great Bengal famine). The analysis of the connections between Sen and Mahbub Ul Haq, whose books and articles (for instance, “Reflections on Human Development”) are always referred to by Sen, will close my presentation. Sen’s works on which I shall concentrate my attention will be, for instance, “Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation”, “On Ethics & Economics”, “Capability and Well-Being”, “Development as Freedom”, “How Does Culture Matter?”, “Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny”, and “The Idea of Justice”; moreover, I shall take into consideration the book “Hunger and Public Action”, which Sen wrote together with Jean Drèze.