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overlooking the fact that people have different abilities in using the same set of means. For e.g. my friends mother who is blind, is so restricted by her disability that even though she has the means and resources at her disposal, but is unable to realize her freedom through them.

森的正义理论-Sen's Theory of Justice

His approach at the theory of justice looks at only the access to the resources in fair share, but more importantly how people are able to use these to meet the objectives of their lives. In this model, called the capability approach, he looks at the personal traits which help people to convert primary goods to live their lives with dignity. So the aim is not just to take note of the ways in which people function, but also to examine the amount of liberty people have at their disposal and to nurture an environment where people are able to enlarge their freedom and relish equal competence. By studying capabilities we can learn more about the choices in hand to accomplish a life worth living. For eg. I have a car but still decide to walk to office compared to my maid who has no choice but to daily walk to several homes. The difference is that I have not only the access to have a car but also the freedom to whether use it or not, so therefore I have a better capability to live life and achieve my goals. Hence, it is not enough to have the primary goods or rights (in a Rawlsian sense) without the requisite freedom and capability to use them in a way that is meaningful to the person. The individual chooses this meaningful life out of his own free will and without any external coercion.

Sen, also points out to the connection between private and public domains of communities. Earlier the impacts of private disadvantages and gender inequalities in the formation of social justice were overlooked. The Rawlsian theory of justice ignores the allocation issues involving women, like the issues of distribution and fairness in a family. His work has immensely contributed to not only raising awareness about gender issues but forming indicators to measure gender imparities. The Gender Related Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure are built using Sen's approach to justice and adopted by the United Nations Development Programme in resolving gender inequalities.

In spite of the great insight offered by Sen into social justice, his approach suffers from a number of anomalies as given below -

He does not give a specific list of the vital capabilities as he thinks how such a list would be decided upon and such a universal list may be inappropriate for a particular time and region. I agree here with Sen for the need to have a context specific list of capabilities.

Sen's focus of freedom of individuals is good, but I think that this freedom should not be at the cost of causing discomfort to others. For eg. I am free to speak, but if I am speaking too loudly or using obscene language, then such freedom has to be curbed. Our freedom should not limit the freedom of other individuals.

After looking at the above mentioned theories of justice and their advantages and disadvantages, I personally feel that the theory of justice should focus on the actual behavior of the individuals. The institutions are important but finally the institutions are not an end in themselves. It is finally the people who run the institutions. Also, in t