More than half of all the girls in India today are married before the age of 18. This derives from gender inequality and discrimination, which has lead to several health issues. At the same time, the Indian state has passed legislation prohibiting the practice of child marriage and made it possible for girls to void their marriages. The law gives the girls more empowerment even if they are minor, which poses some further issues related to age, consent and substantial freedom. The contradiction in the law’s implementation depends on a disparity between the state and customary laws as well as modern versus traditional norms. With the help of Martha Nussbaum’s Capabilities approach, this study tries to understand the law prohibiting child marriage in India and its restrictions, focusing on girl child empowerment and individual choice. The findings show the limitations in the law in regards to parental consent and children’s rights against their parents. The reason why theories like ours, promoting universal norms should be justified, is contingent on the belief that child marriages are harmful to girls’ health. This is furthermore knowledge that should be taught through education for children and adults, which then might alter the gender inequalities developed within the realms of social customs.

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is expected to result in the launching of a process to devise a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2015. Whilst indicators are perceived to be a good vehicle of monitoring progress, currently there is no universally agreed method of measuring sustainable development. This thesis addresses this issue through assessing whether the capabilities approach can be adopted for a global framework in measuring sustainable development. In order to determine this, both theoretical and practical implications will have to be understood. The former is addressed through reviewing the compatibility between the key concepts of sustainable development and the capabilities approach. The latter is addressed through obtaining empirical evidence on the key drivers in selecting indicators via focus group discussions and a quantitative survey with key individuals involved in the Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs) project in Malaysia. It was found that a weak conceptual basis can be attributed as the major challenge for establishing global sustainable development indicators. Whilst recognising that a range of mechanisms are required for operationalization, it was concluded that the capabilities approach provides a sound conceptual basis, framed on the basis of justice and equity in expanding and sustaining the capabilities of current and future generations to pursue their needs.

Most recent attempts at solving the Non-Identity Problem have focused on providing a deontological solution to the problem, often by giving special attention to rights. In this paper, I argue for a solution that focuses on highlighting the morally permissible second-personal reasons and claims that nonidentity victims may have. I use a natural marriage between a Kantian conceptualization of what it means to be free and equal—being one’s own master—and Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach to identify the rights that all individuals, current and future are assigned. I claim that these rights, or capabilities, are what all are entitled to master for themselves in the Kantian sense. I conclude with a solution that produces intuitively correct results and dissolves the nonidentity problem altogether.

Virginity Testing, a traditional Zulu pre-nuptial custom that determines the worth of a bride, has been resurrected in communities in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as a response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The practice takes place during large community festivals when young girls have their genitals physically examined to determine whether they are virgins and results are made public. Supporters of the tradition claim that in fostering a value of chastity among its youth, it encourages abstinence from sexual intercourse which leads to a lower HIV infection rate and prevents the disease from spreading. Human rights activists disagree; Rather than slowing the spread of a disease, they argue, the practice instead endangers girls. Those who fail are often shunned and turn to prostitution, while those who pass may be exposed as potential targets for rape (due to a myth that says intercourse with a virgin cures HIV/AIDS). Despite a ban on the practice in 2005, the testing festivals continue, and are described by supporters as an important part of the preservation of Zulu culture. This thesis examines the ways in which human rights may be re-negotiated for young girls in Zulu communities while maintaining a respect for local culture. It moves beyond the traditional debate between relativism and universalism in order to propose solutions to rights violations in culturally diverse contexts by exploring ideas of inclusive human rights and capabilities theories.

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Is open-mindedness necessary for intellectual well-being in education? To answer this question this thesis draws on Aristotle‟s virtue ethics and virtue epistemology. It is argued that in order to understand eudaimonia (well-being) it is necessary to understand phronesis. In this regard, it is implied that in order to understand well-being, it is necessary to understand virtue, thus, well-being needs virtue(s). Just as Aristotelian virtue ethics defends the necessity of virtue(s) for well-being, virtue epistemology defends the priority of intellectual virtues for intellectual well-being. Unlike epistemology, virtue epistemology focuses on how an individual can be a good informant through the cultivation of intellectual virtues. To this end, this thesis proposes an alternative regulative educative virtue epistemology for intellectual well-being in education. In this context, open-mindedness is examined as an intellectual virtue that secures and facilitates other virtues both for individual and collective well-being in education. Bringing together White‟s and Nussbaum‟s seemingly opposed approaches to well-being, this thesis argues that a better theory of well-being in education must be one that equally combines a collective subjective major-informed desire theory with an individual objective list account of well-being. This account of well-being implies a certain understanding of intellectual open-mindedness. Drawing on Wolff‟s and De-Shalit‟s novel ideas of „secure‟ and „fertile functioning‟ as well as on Roberts‟ and Wood‟s „intellectual functionings‟, this thesis proposes a genuine intellectual open-mindedness that is both well-informed, reasonable, and necessary to „secure‟ and „fertile‟ „intellectual functionings‟ for intellectual well-being in education. Throughout the discussion, the thesis asserts that particular attention needs to be paid to the well-being of student teachers. Although it is widely accepted that pupils‟ well-being is important, less attention has been given to teachers‟ well-being. This thesis argues that teachers‟ and pupils‟ well-being is inextricably connected and initial teacher education should focus on student teachers‟ intellectual well-being as they constitute the future teaching workforce. The implications of how this account of well-being might inform Scottish initial teacher education programmes is addressed.

Entrepreneurship education has emerged as an alternative to traditional models of sustainable development in Sub-Sahara Africa. Traditional development models focus on economic reforms. In contrast, Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to development emphasizes the importance of entitlements, choice, freedom, and addressing social and institutional conditions that facilitate development. This is a case study on a similar program, the Mandela Washington Fellowship (MWF) for Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), in the business and entrepreneurship track. The objective is to examine the impact of MWF on participants in developing entrepreneurial and leadership skills, which has the potential to contribute to the overall growth and development of their communities. This research assesses the effectiveness of entrepreneurship and leadership education programs in successfully developing practical skills among participants. Further goal is to examine the links between sustainable development, entrepreneurship and leadership training programs, in the context of Sen’s capabilities approach to development in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Les usages de la catégorie de vulnérabilité se sont multipliés ces dernières années, dans le champ de la philosophie morale et politique, ainsi que dans le champ des sciences sociales. Partant de l’hypothèse selon laquelle ces usages signalent l’émergence d’une nouvelle conception du sujet, distincte de la conception qui sous-tend la tradition politique libérale mais aussi la tradition morale de l’autonomie comme maîtrise de soi, ce travail tente de cerner la signification de cette catégorie et d’analyser les implications éthiques et politiques d’une anthropologie du sujet vulnérable. Confrontant les conceptions de la vulnérabilité que l’on peut dégager des travaux de Martha Nussbaum, d’Axel Honneth et des théoriciennes du care telles que Carol Gilligan et Joan Tronto, il soutient que la catégorie de vulnérabilité doit être comprise comme une catégorie duale : d’un point de vue anthropologique, elle renvoie à la situation d’exposition et de dépendance dans laquelle se trouvent les sujets humains en tant que sujets incarnés et relationnels et signifie que l’autonomie qui leur est accessible dépend fondamentalement de la manière dont les autres se rapportent à eux ; d’un point de vue sociologique, elle désigne les effets subjectifs induits par des situations sociales dans lesquelles les sujets sont privés des conditions nécessaires au développement et au maintien de leur autonomie. Cette conception de la vulnérabilité est ensuite vérifiée négativement par le biais d’un examen des approches sociologiques de la vulnérabilité, plus particulièrement des sociologies de la désaffiliation, de la disqualification sociale et de la domination. Enfin, elle est mise au service d’un retour à la théorie normative dont l’enjeu est de dégager les principes et les institutions d’une société qui prendrait en compte la vulnérabilité des sujets dans sa double dimension. Dans ce cadre, nous soutenons que le néorépublicanisme de Philip Pettit peut, à condition d’intégrer les apports des théories du care et de la reconnaissance, permettre de poser les bases d’une politique de la vulnérabilité visant la promotion des conditions relationnelles et sociales de l’autonomie. / The notion of vulnerability has recently become central in contemporary moral and political philosophy and in contemporary sociology. This work starts from the assumption that this notion carries with it a new conception of the subject, distinct both from the liberal conception and from the conception promoted by the moral tradition that defines autonomy as self-mastery. In order to define the concept of vulnerability, we first compare the way Martha Nussbaum, Axel Honneth, and care theorists such as Carol Gilligan and Joan Tronto use that notion. This comparison leads us to develop a dual conception of vulnerability according to which vulnerability should be understood as an anthropological category and a sociological one: vulnerability primarily refers to the situation of exposition and dependence in which corporeal and relational subjects are necessarily placed; that we are vulnerable means that our autonomy is dependent on the way others treat us. But vulnerability can also refer to the subjective effects produced by social situations or social contexts that deprive the subject of the conditions that are necessary for the development of her autonomy. We then show that this conception can be confirmed by an analysis of the way sociology makes use of the notion. We focus on the sociology of disaffiliation, social disqualification and domination. Finally, we try to highlight the normative implications of our conception of vulnerability. We argue that neorepublicanism, as developed by Philip Pettit, can help us to define a politics of vulnerability committed to the promotion of the relational and social conditions of autonomy, if we rework it by including in it the major contributions of care ethics and recognition theory.

Adam Smith considered consumption the sole end and purpose of all production. Concerning the measurement of welfare, this requires a sound understanding of the connection between consumption and welfare. The consumerist conceptualization of this connection implies that the amount of consumption equals welfare and the level of production can be an indicator for welfare. The limits and problems of production measures are widely accepted. Yet, indicators like GDP remain the focus of mainstream economic theory and policy. We trace the origin of this lock-in back to the economic model of behaviour and the concept of agency in mainstream economics. The suggested alternative stems from literature about human needs in heterodox economics and psychology. This literature incorporates the relevance of social aspects and cultural change for welfare. It turns out that consumerism can be a threat to well-being and welfare rather than a requirement for it. / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The word education comes from the latin educare meaning "drive out". Education, understood here as the act of educating, it can occur at school, interaction with colleagues or can be developed via the media. Until the nineteenth century, education was a privilege for the few, the intellectual formation was restricted elites and popular classes were indoctrinated in accordance with the interests of the elite. In the twentieth century, the progressive education and postmodern trace other purpose for education, not indoctrination but rather the formation of critical citizens who are able to understand the reality around them and transform it. The functions performed by education, according to the progressive pedagogical thought of Paulo Freire and postmodern and the reports of the UNESCO (2013, 2014) and by the UNDP (2015), forward this study to the analysis of education in space freedom. The Capability Approach crafted by Amartya Sen (1979a, 1985, 2010) focuses on the freedom that the individual must possess to perform the beings and doings it considers of value to your life, having the freedom to expand their set of freedoms. By adopting the Capability Approach as a theoretical framework this paper aims to provide answers the following question: what is the contribution of the Capability Approach in the analysis of the roles (instrumental and intrinsic) of education in the lives of individuals? The main objective of this study was to present education in the Capability Approach and explores the relevance of education not only as a tool for the expansion of human freedom but also as an important resource for their very existence, by allowing the individual to develop their judgment and discernment skills. The theoretical and bibliographic references used allowed to describe various aspects associated with access to education that strengthened the importance of analyzing education through the prism of human freedoms. Education not only improves the social and economic conditions of individuals, but contributes to its formation as a human being, aware of the reality around him, respect human diversity (racial, gender, cultural, religious, etc.), knowledgeable of their rights and duties, opinion leader. Education, formal and informal, makes the free individual to exercise control over your own life and achieve what he considers value for you (positive freedom), not only acts as an instrumental freedom, but rather as an intrinsic freedom by value which has in shaping the individual as a human being (substantive freedom). / A palavra educar vem do latim educare que significa conduzir para fora ou direcionar para fora . A educação, entendida aqui como o ato de educar, pode ocorrer na escola, na interação com colegas ou pode ser desenvolvida via meios de comunicação. Até o século XIX, a educação escolar era privilégio para poucos, a formação intelectual era restrita as elites e as classes populares eram doutrinadas de acordo com os interesses da elite. No século XX, a educação progressista e a pós-moderna traçam outra finalidade para o ensino, não mais a doutrinação e sim, a formação de cidadãos críticos que sejam capazes de compreender a realidade a sua volta e transformá-la. As funções desempenhadas pela educação, de acordo com o pensamento pedagógico progressista de Paulo Freire e pós-moderno e com os relatórios apresentados pela UNESCO (2013, 2014) e pela UNDP (2015), encaminham este estudo para a análise da educação no espaço da liberdade. A Abordagem das Capacitações trabalhada por Amartya Sen (1979a, 1985, 2010) focaliza a liberdade que o indivíduo deve possuir para realizar os beings and doings que considere de valor para a sua vida, ter a liberdade para expandir o seu conjunto de liberdades. Ao se adotar a Abordagem das Capacitações como referencial teórico este trabalho pretendeu responder o seguinte questionamento: qual a contribuição da Abordagem das Capacitações na análise dos papéis (instrumental e intrínseco) da educação para a vida dos indivíduos? O objetivo central do presente estudo foi apresentar a educação na Abordagem das Capacitações e explorar a relevância da educação não só como instrumento para a expansão da liberdade humana, mas também como um recurso importante pela sua própria existência, por permitir ao indivíduo desenvolver suas habilidades de julgamento e discernimento. O referencial teórico e bibliográfico utilizado permitiu descrever diversos aspectos associados ao acesso à educação que fortaleceram a importância de se analisar a educação sob o prisma das liberdades humanas. A educação não só melhora as condições sociais e econômicas dos indivíduos, mas colabora para a sua formação enquanto ser humano, consciente da realidade a sua volta, que respeita a diversidade humana (racial, de gênero, cultural, religiosa, etc.), conhecedor de seus direitos e deveres, formador de opinião. A educação, formal e informal, torna o indivíduo livre para exercer o controle sobre sua própria vida e realizar o que considera de valor para si (liberdade positiva), não atua somente como uma liberdade instrumental, mas principalmente, como uma liberdade intrínseca pelo valor que possui na formação do indivíduo enquanto ser humano (liberdade substantiva).