Measuring Justice: Primary Goods and Capabilities

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.

Harry Brighouse is Professor of Philosophy and Affiliate Professor of Education Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His previous publications include On Education (2006). He is co-editor of The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism (Cambridge, 2005). Ingrid Robeyns is Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She is co-editor of Amartya Sen's Work and Ideas: A Gender Perspective (2005).