Re: Amartya Sen: democracy is not "Western"

[Doyle Saylor <doylesaylor@xxxxxxx>]

Greetings Economists,
Sen is the leading influence on Nussbaum in terms of her framing of
disabled rights.  Sen defines a concept of 'capabilities' which
Nussbaum uses to supplant Rawls-like social agreement as the foundation
of social rights.  This concept seems to me still liberal in the sense
of a focus upon individual rights, but her contrast with the casting of
disability out of social contracts that Rawls and historical philosophy
from Locke and Hume onward created does reveal what they don't admit
readily to that disability is not what they considered 'human'.

A socialist would really not think of capabilities, but connections.
That's the systemic in Marxist thought.  Connection has many meanings,
sex acts, language, culture, economic activity and whole economic
systems.  Democracy can only mean language.  Culture is accumulation in
social groups with definite barriers erected around those social
groups.  A primitive of that concept of culture is explored here:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?
chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=000C1E5D-B9BA-1422-B9BA83414B7F0103

About Orangutan culture development in some areas of Borneo.  Anyway,
my point is that Sen's view of 'capabilities' reveals some aspects of
'democracy' in his essay, but he hardly seems to see democracy
correctly as a product more or less of language because the connection
part of language is not contained in 'capabilities'.

Sen writes,
...modern democracy can build on the dialogic part of the common human
inheritance...

... The work of Arab and Iranian mathematicians, from the eighth
century onward reflects a largely nonreligious tradition. Depending on
politics, which varied between one Muslim ruler and another, there is
also quite a history of tolerance and of public discussion, on which
the pursuit of a modern democracy can draw....

Doyle,
This tells us how to find 'language' social power but fails to find
'connection' in the economic sense.  While I agree with Sen about
Democracy is hardly 'Western' what a stupid racist concept really
Europeans and North Americans believe, Sen sees language in a way that
hardly touches upon connection or systemics that matters.
thanks,
Doyle Saylor