Beyond Sen – How conceptualising personhood as interdependent provides a pathway to personal & planetary wellbeing

Abstract

In the context of development, Sen has argued that central to human wellbeing is that individual persons have the capabilities to live a life that they value. While Sen acknowledges that there are cultural and social processes that influence the values manifest by persons, his approach has been criticised for over-emphasising the independent individual and seeing capabilities as possessions of those individuals. Critics have suggested that a more relational understanding of persons as being constituted collectively, by and in relation to their communities and cultures and the natural world that nurtures them, would enable us to better understand the foundations of personal wellbeing, and open the potential for a healthier relationship with the planet. In that context, we present a theoretical account of persons that highlights this relationality and so exposes problematic aspects of Sen’s approach. In particular, we consider the foundational nature of the concept of ‘persons’. Within this account, persons and their achievements are constituted by multi-level processes that include the social, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to overall wellbeing. We consider the practical policy implications for people and nature of adopting this account of persons and contrast it to Sen’s capability account.