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NOTES Flawed Idea of Justice try to point out some ontological, episte mological and methodological limits in Sen’s idea of ustice. As Sen himself says, quoting ernard illiams, “disagreement Maidul Islam does not necessarily hae to e oercome” p 1. efore one starts theorising a out The questions of antagonism, istinguished professor and o el remoing inustice as Sen has done, it hegemony and imperialism are aureate Amartya Sen, in his ould e orth asing first a out the missing in Amartya Sen’s treatise recent oo, The Idea of Justice ontological and e istential question of The Idea of Justice. ne cannot has taen a pragmatic approach y inustice itself. That is to say, ho inus pondering oer the idea of enhancement tices occur and e ist in society ne can comprehensiely understand the of ustice y remoal of inustice instead of argue that inustices are functions of specific notions of ustice and inustice imagining an a priori perfect ust society, or poer relations in society, here the ithout addressing these identifying “perfectly ust” social arrange unust conditions of ple s are the results core issues. ments or ust institutions. Sen has also of certain policies of the poer loc. emphasised pu lic reasoning and pu lic ence, antagonism is a constitutie part of de ates for alternatie isions of remoing any society. e cannot therefore address inustice. Thus, Sen’s idea of ustice is the question of ustice hile focusing on pluralist in character ith a democratic remoing inustice ithout analy sing and engagement ith aried positions and yet remoing antagonism prealent in soci ith possi ilities to arrie at certain collec ety. The present crisis in the form of eco tie outcomes. Sen’s oo holds merit as it nomic inequalities, unemployment, glo al only sees to search for an idea of ustice capitalist e ploitation of enironment and rather than ansering “hat is ustice” the crisis of “glo al iolence” or glo al and does not mae a grand claim that terrorism ould e unresoled if the “this is ustice”. Sen’s approach is not to antagonistic poer relations across the proide an “ideal, perfec t, ust society orld continue to e ist. theory” ut to loo at alternatie ays of egarding “pu lic reasoning”, one can remoing inustices or ho inustices can as the folloing questions ho ould e minimised in comparatie approaches decide the rules and regulations of pu lic or “realisation focused comparison” as he de ates and pu lic reasoning in a orld claims in e ten ding the legacies of Adam controlled y the corporate media ho Smith, eremy entham, ohn Stuart ill, ould in pu lic de ates in faour of arqui s de ondorcet, ary ollstonecraft ustice and against inustice an there e and arl ar hile differing ith the such an ideal situation of democratic “transcendental institutionalism” of con dialogue eteen utilitarian, egalitarian tractarian theorists lie Thomas o es , and nononsense li ertarian as Sen has ohn oce, ean acques ousseau, portrayed in his ideal scheme of things mmanuel ant and ohn als. Accordin g r ould not the pragmatic reality e ery to Sen, the contractualists elieed in an different – that of an “impossi le dia ideal, per fect, ust society theory on the logue” precisely ecause the ery different asis of trans cendentalism to find perfectly positions on ustice fundamentally dis ideal, ust social arrange ment s hile the agree ith one another and has an in uilt comparatie frame or theorists ere narcissism ithin each one of them, claim interested in remoing inustices in aried ing “our path is the right path”, ased on ays. The merits of Sen’s approach to their reason. Therefore, reasoning as a The opinions e pressed in this article are ustice lies in the fact that it tries to mae alue is neither autonomous nor impar entirely personal, ut also resulting from a distinguishe d contri ution y differing tial, ut hether a hegemonic uniersal numerous de ates and discussions. am also ith ant’s notion of “perfect ustice”, reason is dominant or ruling the society is inde ted to the suggestions and insightful Aristotle’s “uniersal ustice” and als’ a significant question to pose. n this comments of an anonymous referee. preo ccupation ith ustice and moral rights. respect, e can remind ar Engels’ aidul slam moidul.islam@gmail.com is a The oo, in this riter’s opinion, ho famous proclamation in The German Ideo doctoral student in epartment of Politics and eer, has seeral deficiencies. n this arti logy “the ideas of the ruling class are in nternational elations, niersity of ford. cle e ill critically engage ith Sen, and every epoch the ruling ideas”. n that case, 116 august 6, 2011 vol xlvi no 32 EPW Economic & Political Weekly NOTES “the idea of ustice” and “ays to remoe authoritarian imposition from a oe than after eentful political transformations inustice” ecome a game of contesting hegemonic formation from elo ith such as the Spartacus slae reolt, English positions struggling for hegemony. There people’s consent and actie participation eolution, £rench eolution, ussian fore, setting the rules of such a game in championing a ersion of ustice can e eolution, hinese eolution, ranian of contesting positions and the final out questioned¢collapsed ith ne possi ilities slamic eolution, national li eration come of that game is dependent on in of struggle for li eration from a repressie and decolonisation. After the transforma ning and losing parties of hegemonic notion of ustice. tion of the postar elfare state to the struggle of contesting positions. ore n case of a repressie poer, the nor retreat of the elfare state ith the emer oer, there cannot e any “neutral author matie idealism of “ust society” itself gence of neoli eral consensus, ustice has ity” setting the rules of pu lic reason and ecomes relegated to redundancy ith the not een ensured to significant sections of pu lic de ates ecause authority y defi emergence of realism, here only poer, population in those societies and indeed nition is lined ith poer and the his and remaining seated in poer ecomes e find ne forms of inustices haunting toric e perience of human e istence an ideal. Thus, ideals lie ustice or remo the orld. oeer, it can e definitely shos us that poer is neer innocent or ing inustice only ecome an illusionary argued that some of the a oementioned impartial ut has a motie to fulfil, and eil to camouflage the hidden goal of the political transformations hae made adance thus open to manipulation y the domi political act of achieing poer. n such a ments in maing societies relatiely more nant poer loc for its on ested inter situation, the promise and hope of esta ust, hile eliminating certain inustices ests. n this respect, Sen does not engage lishing a ust society or remoing inus lie a olition of slaery, dis andment of ith the concept of hegemony, hich tices is a political proect of the present. priate armies of propertied classes, con actually deries from the anta gonistic The promise of ustice or remoing inus centrated focus on social sectors lie nature of human society fractured ith tice is made to the people at the current health and education, etc. n the other aried ethicopolitical position s and dis conuncture no for political mo ilisa hand, in the current neoli eral dispensa tinct politicoideological articulations. tion to esta lish a “relatiely ne ust tion, e find ust concerns for eniron society ” in the near future. o, regard ment and “right to information” y car Question of Political Struggle ing the a sence of hegemony as a core ing out a space for goernmental account t is indeed surprising that een if ramsci concept in Sen’s or, there are to more a ility and responsi ility to the pu lic, ut is listed as a “political radical” p 11, Sen issues hich need to e addressed. £irst, at the same time, e can also itness ne only places him ithin the categories of any normatie concept such as ustice, forms of inustices ith financial crisis “entanglements, language and communica li erty, equality, freedom, etc, are histori and its negatie effects on employment tion” and descri es him as an influence on cally specific and are therefore contingent and income, socialisation of corporate am ridge economist Piero Sraffa, ho, on specific time and space. £or e ample, losses y ailing out ig capital ith pu in turn, influenced the great th century there as a point of time in human history lic money, offering “social ri es” Pat philosopher, udig ittgenstein pp 11¡1 here the erdict of a clan leader or nai 6 in the name of corporate ta and not as an original ar ist thiner, emperor as seen as ustice from a legalistic concessions, land gra ing and e propria ho introduced the concept of hegemony point of ie. Similarly, ancient ree tion of the peasant economy coupled ith 1 as a ey tool to understand politics. e philosophers lie Plato and Aristotle did agrarian crisis in many deeloping coun can further clarify that the struggle to not argue that the e istence of slaes in tries, the retreat of elfarist policies, etc. ensure ustice or remoing inustice to their societies is fundamentally unust. Since, Sen’s oo is ritten for our times, arrie at relatiely more ust conditions Secondly, any normatie concept lie ustice, he does not offer us any solution ho e ia Sen’s approach is intricately connected li erty, equality, freedom, etc, also has a can mae societies relatiely ust in the to the question of political struggle to in class¢group underpinning. Thus, hich midst of neoli eral hegemony. ather his hegemony oer the rest of the population. class¢group gets ustice at the e pense of arguments can ell e sufficient to sus The population in a societ y can e politi hom and furthermore, ho decides tain a neoli eral dispensation as e ill cally coninced for a particular ersion of hat is ust and hat is unust, much ain see ne t on the question of imperialism. ustice or ays of remoing inustice y to the iet¤schean pro lem of ho decides consultations, consent, democratic partici good and eil iet¤sche ¥, 1¡¡ is a Vehicles of US Imperialism pations, etc. f a particular ersion of significant question to pose, hich Sen Sen argues that the nited ations, many ustice is superimposed from top, then has not ased precisely ecause of his nongoernmental organisation’s NGO hegemony nonetheless can e esta lished, complete de uning of the concept of and parts of the nes media hae a ut ith coercie mechanisms, hich in a hegemony in his ritings. positie role to play in ensuring glo al ay can also inite resistance¢challenge o, one might argue that Sen’s proect demo cracy characterised y glo al rea to the hegemonic formation¢poer loc of remoing inustices instead of giing soning pp ¦¡. ne can raise an and thus can limit its scope of operation. the call for a transcendental perfect ust empirico factual question as to ho the n that circumstance, the ery notion of a society has merit ecause the history of UN, NGOs and media are going to facilitate hegemonic idea of ustice and its moral human e istence has so far shon that no glo al democracy hen more often than authority that is esta lished through an society has een a solutely ust and een not, they are sold to corporate interests Economic & Political Weekly EPW august 6, 2011 vol xlvi no 32 11 NOTES and hae een the ehicles of US imperial argument in the idea of “glo al demo suppresses¢silences the oices of the other ism for quite sometime no. Therefore, cracy ” and “glo al ustice” mediated read ple eian ictims, hich gets either ¥ Sen’s idea of ustice cannot e plural ut through imperialist agencies lie the UN, displaced or unheard. n this connection, partial, since the prealent conditions of orld Trade rganisation WO, NGOs Sen’s “glo al dialogue” is impossi le pre seeral forms of antagonism e pressed in and corporate media. cisely ecause of the antagonistic nature the phenomenon of poerty, inequality, Sen tries to mae a happy harmony, of glo al poer relations and can only illiteracy, health ha¤ards, undemocratic arguing in faour of a glo al dialogue e ist in the imaginations of an idealist international disorder are consequences eteen the imperialist poer loc alli thiner, ho ironically is not interested of corporate model of neoli eral capital ance of ashington, ondon, Paris and in proiding a transcendental ideal ust ism. Already, Partha hatteree has inci Toyo ith “antiglo alisation protests” perfect society. £actually, such “glo al siely shon us that “empire’s ision is a p ¡. Since eents lie inasion of raq, dialogue” has een proed to e counter glo al democracy” hatteree Afghanistan, “glo al terrorism”, glo al productie as eident in the UN deli era 1. n fact, institutions lie the UN, NGOs economic crises, actiities of transnational tions, WO negotiations and climate and media that Sen has so much hope for corporations and thus “institutions and change summits ith concerns of “orld and trust in, hae themseles contri uted policies of one country influence lies else of the third” and their conflict ith the in sustaining the current unust imperialist here” oth directly and indirectly, Sen alliance of imperialist poer loc. hen system. Thus, it can e argued that Sen’s argues for a glo al dialogue ith the UN, WO and climate change tals fail, the ision of furthering the reach of glo al oices of affected people p 1¥. ayatri imperialist poer loc coterie does not democracy asically oerlaps ith the haraorty Spia 1¡¦¦ ¥¦, “the engage in selfintrospection, rather it con proect of American empire remem er, quintessential argumentatie ndian” and tinues to pursue the same sets of oppres the rhetoric of successie American presi Sen’s “lifelong friend” famously announ sie and e ploitatie policies that affect dents in faour of “glo al democracy” ced that “§t¨he su altern cannot spea”. the lies of significant sections of the een ith unust ars ut ustifying those E tending Spia, e ould argue that orld’s population. n this regard, the ide heinous acts in the cause of democracy, een if the su altern speas ith an alism of “glo al dialogue” ased on rea peace, freedom and ustice. ne can iden “authentic oice”, dominant loud oices of soned argument is effectiely reduced to tify the logic of empire in the intellectual the metropolitan self read the empire “disengaged toleration”, ith the comfort EPW esearch £oundation UNI O SMS US www.epwrf.in www.epwrfits.in India Time Series A few months ago EPWRF introduced an online database service christened as ‘India Time Series’, www.epwrfits.in. 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For any further details or clarifications, please contact: Director, EPW Research Foundation, C-212, Akurli Industrial Estate, Akurli Road, Kandivli (East), Mumbai - 400 101 (phone: 91-22-2885 4995/4996) or mail to: epwrf@vsnl.com 11¦ august 6, 2011 vol xlvi no 32 EPW Economic & Political Weekly NOTES of such la¤y resolution as “you are right in in fact forgets to mention the common in remo ing inustice than haing an ideal your community and am right in mine” noledge that it as America’s on ust society is a selectie reading y Sen. t p , hich Sen himself criticises. This £ranenstein created as a strategy of cold is not clear, hy Sen decided to pose only e poses the selfcontradiction of his ar politics, hich is no haunting the ar , not as an ideal perfect ust society argument. e ould also add that the empire. So, America has to account for thiner n his Sen 1¡¡ engali oo, impossi ility of glo al dialogue particu much of the present crisis in the ae of Jibonjatra O rthaniti iving and co larly in an antagonistic atmosphere of glo al terrorism. Similarly, Sen also does nomics, Sen has referred to the classic saagery of ar, economic inequalities not assess America’s unust historic rongs, ar ian te t The German Ideology, here eteen rich and poor countries, and the most crudely e pressed in decimating ar Engels 1¡ argues a out the inustices of poerty, lac of educational iroshima and agasai ith atom notion of human freedom in “communist opportunities and poor health conditions om s, its military interentions and the society” and “true socialism”. Then e in deeloping nations is a result of e ploi entral ntelligence Agency sponsored no a out ar ’s 1¡¡¡a idea of distri tation and oppression of the shining orld coups in parts of atin America and the utie ustice in a communist society toards the suffering one. uslim orld, and its proselytisation of “from each according to his a ility to each seeral third orld nation states ith according to his needs”, hich can e seen Political s Practical Utilit £undan maret led economic policies as ar ’s on ustifications of perfectly ne can also as a out the duality of that only sustained the pro lems of po ideal ust social arrangements. Similarly, political ersus practical utility of Sen’s erty, inequality, unemployment, lac of the ideal of communism, hich y ar ’s approach and hether e can argue for a educational opportunities and health ha¤ on admission is also a “real moement” distinctie political utility for ust society ards. Today, this neoli eral consensus is y “transforming capitalist mode of pro in an age of empire. f e can argue for facing a crisis of legitimacy oing much to duction” can e seen in his other ors as 6 such a case, then hat ould e the feasi the discredited economic agenda of glo al ell. The finality of ar ’s 1¡¡¡ polit ility of any theory of ustice n the poer elites facing a massie financial cri ical imaginary of ideal perfect ust society question of gap eteen theoretical and sis in the est. n this conte t, as one of is e pressed in one of his most famous philosophical premises¢promises ith that the respected pu lic intellectuals of our quotes “communism is the riddle of of practical performances in ground reali time, Sen stops short of adising the impe history soled, and it nos itself to e ties at the grass roots, and ho e can rialist poer loc to reform itself, and not this solution”. oercome this gap eteen academic to repeat its mistaes of historic rongs o, it is a legitimate question to as engagements and real political actiism, and inustices to the orld population. that hy Sen does not read these ar ian Sen’s solution of glo al democracy and Sen is soft on the question of imperialism te ts as transcendental ones. Sen’s treat glo al ustice mediated through UN, NGOs, and aoids ehemently criticising it as a ment of ar as a thiner interested in WO and media is unimpressie. Sen system of inustice. To summarise the remoing inustice is correct, ut as e all argues in faour of actiism ut does not a oe three fundamental disagreements no, ar as also interested in esta ela orate on the nature of actiism and ith Sen, e can say that the questions of lishing an ideal ust perfect society in his ¦ its specific direction – hether political antagonism, hegemony and imperialism ision of communism. £rom a ar ist actiism in faour of an imperialist status are a solutely missing in his oo and one standpoint, the critique of “transcenden quo or an actiism negotiating ith the cannot comprehensiely understand the tal” y Sen inaria ly reinforces a our imperialist poer loc or political strug notions of ustice and inustice ithout geois assault on the ery idea of reolution gle against the ery form of imperialist addressing those issues. since he is prescri ing that there is no order to transform the imperialist system point to loo for a reolutionary change ould ensure a relatiely ust society. At isreading of ar ith an ideal of a perfect ust society. est, Sen is arguing in faour of negotiat o do e address the gap eteen aca ather for Sen, it is prefera le to try and ing ith imperialist poer loc y getting demic philosophy and political practice, remoe as much inustices as possi le some doles¢concessions if possi le, and hich in a ay, ar tried to resole the ithin glo al capitalism or etter say, to not at all faouring transformation of issue Sen might argue that ar ’s com the e tent capitalism gies that scope for unust imperialist system to a radical dem munism is not feasi le and ar treats remoing inustice. Therefore, Sen’s cri ocratic alternatie of ust society. humans as animals, hile Sen alues tique of the transcendental is appended Een Sen’s o serations of US inasion reason and treats human rationality as an ith a noncritical approach to capitalism to raq as “mistaen” p ¥ and American important tool in dealing ith oth philo as ell. This acceptance of capitalism y response to ¡¢11 “affecting hundreds of sophy and practice of remoing inustice. Sen ithout a transformatie agenda and millions...in Afghanistan” p care n this respect, particularly Sen’s reading in fact eing critical to such a transcen fully aoid using the term “imperialism” of ar as a comparatiist than an ideal dental approach only maes him soft on hich has perhaps ecome oldfashioned perfect ust society thiner is a misreading the issue of imperialism as e hae in American intellectual circles as it of ar ith a profound epistemological noticed earlier. em arrasses the imperialist poer loc© pro lem in his thesis. The framing of ar £or Sen, the ourgeois modernity of the n the question of Tali an and ¡¢11, Sen among the comparatiists, more interested European enlightenment proect is an Economic & Political Weekly EPW august 6, 2011 vol xlvi no 32 11¡
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