The Capability Approach was initially developed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, with the first basic articulation presented in his 1979 ‘Equality of What?’ Tanner Lecture. Since then, the approach has gained a huge amount of attention as a conceptual framework which offers a clear and insightful way to measure well-being and development. Most recently, the approach has been refined and extended by Martha Nussbaum to issues of disability, nationality, and species membership in political philosophy. This project is about the foundations of the capability approach. More specifically, this project asks whether we can, and whether there are good reasons to, strengthen those foundations. The conclusions drawn here are that we ought to think seriously about the way that the capability approach develops as a theory that responds to real world challenges and change. More importantly, this project contends – in light of the challenges of future people and indigenous peoples – that there is good reason to think of new ways to ground the approach. This project takes up this challenge and grounds the approach in a modified version of Tim Mulgan’s approach to well-being. This project demonstrates that this alternative enriches the capability approach by providing us with a way of making sense of important problems, and with options for moving forward. Overall, this project asks important questions about how the capability approach could evolve based on challenges that remain relatively under-explored in the current literature. This project contributes to this literature by demonstrating that we can and ought to strengthen the capability approach and its ability to understand, take on board, and resolve these challenges.

This thesis uses a philosophical discussion to explore the tensions that result in the meeting between universal claims and particular contexts regarding human rights and how these tensions can be mediated by exploring the right to religious freedom. In order to do this, two approaches will be studied, one liberal and one postcolonial, represented by Martha Nussbaum and Saba Mahmood respectively. In comparing the approaches of Nussbaum and Mahmood, their arguments and positions become clearer, but also the nuances of the debate between universalism and contextualism. The right to religious freedom, with its many tensions between theory and practice, has been useful in exploring what values are at stake when we talk about human rights in general and how we can think about the apparent tension between universalism and contextual sensitivity. The thesis thus shows that there are more similarities between these two approaches than it may first seem and that they are not incompatible. This is argued to provide insight into possible ways of mediating human rights between theory and practice. / Denna uppsats utgår från en filosofisk diskussion kring spänningen mellan universella anspråk och specifika sammanhang när det kommer till mänskliga rättigheter och hur dessa spänningar kan medlas utifrån en undersökning av religionsfriheten. För att åstadkomma studeras två inriktningar, den ena liberal och den andra postkolonial. Dessa inriktningar representeras av Martha Nussbaum respektive Saba Mahmood. I och med en jämförande analys mellan dessa två inriktningar är förhoppningen att deras likheter och skillnader blir tydligare, samt att nyanserna inom debatten mellan universalism och kontextualism blir tydligare. Det finns många spänningar mellan teori och praktik när det kommer till rätten till religionsfrihet och just denna rättighet är på så sätt användbar för att utforska spänningen mellan universalism och kontextualism när det kommer till mänskliga rättigheter. Denna uppsats visar därmed att det finns flera likheter mellan dessa inriktningar och att de därför inte kan anses vara oförenliga med varandra. Detta för med sig en insikt i möjligheter till att medla mänskliga rättigheter mellan teori och praktik.

The primary goal of this work is to answer this question: if Artificial Intelligences (AI) are proper subjects of moral consideration, then should we develop such AI – that is, AI worthy of moral consideration of its own accord? To answer the above question, it is necessary to provide a systematic overview of whether AI are, or could be, subjects of moral consideration. By combining P. Wang’s definition of AI with AK.M. Andersson’s “The Relevant Similarity Theory”, I aim to identify conditions under which an AI could be demarcated as a proper subject of moral consideration. As a comparison, I also combine Wang’s definition with M.C. Nussbaum’s “Capability Theory”. The proposed theories have two strengths in common – namely that they each are good and contemporary examples of two influential families of views in ethics, and that they, together, represent a fairly wide spectrum of ethical theory. Using the insights gained I first develop an argument showing that beings classifiable as AI under Wang’s definition of intelligence would be correctly demarcated as proper subjects of moral consideration, regardless of preference of the two moral theories. I then develop an argument answering my primary question as such: if AI are proper subjects of moral consideration, then we should not develop AI further. / <p>HT 2021</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T13:54:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 400345.pdf: 1011202 bytes, checksum: 6008dffe2a42780b7b8266dc80ec8321 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-31 / Esta disserta??o dedica-se a avaliar criticamente os m?ritos do empreendimento realizado por Martha C. NUSSBAUM na sua obra Frontiers of Justice, em que se prop?e elaborar uma nova teoria da justi?a escorada em sua tese das Capacidades Humanas Centrais. Pretende a Autora elaborar uma teoria da justi?a que parta dos elementos b?sicos extra?dos da doutrina contratualista desenvolvida por John RAWLS, mas que n?o se mantenha adstrita a estrutura formal do puro procedimentalismo sugerido na obra rawlsiana. Para tanto, sugere NUSSBAUM seja o contratualismo rawlsiano complementado naquilo que possui de positivo por meio de elementos substanciais que s?o extra?dos da ?tica aristot?lica, produzindo, com isso, uma esp?cie de contratualismo aristot?lico. Mescla a Autora, desse modo, dentro de uma ?nica teoria de justi?a elementos te?ricos que s?o extra?dos de tr?s tradi??es filos?ficas distintas e possivelmente rivais, quais sejam: a tradi??o cl?ssica, a moderna e a p?s-moderna. Nesses termos, o presente estudo assume como objetivo espec?fico analisar a viabilidade do projeto que pretende conjugar tradi??es filos?ficas distintas e que possuem conceitos b?sicos e elementos fundantes que poderiam ser interpretados, inclusive, como inconcili?veis entre si. Assim, seguindo os ensinamentos de Alasdair MACINTYRE acerca das dificuldades de comensura??o e tradu??o de conceitos oriundos de tradi??es filos?ficas distintas, pretende-se avaliar o sucesso de NUSSBAUM ao apresentar uma teoria da justi?a que combina o realismo aristot?lico com o construtivismo rawlsiano, sendo que, para tanto, ser? necess?rio demonstrar que entre uma e outra tradi??o existem elementos suficientemente comuns e compartilh?veis que permitem a estrutura??o de um novo modelo de pensamento que seja superior ?s duas tradi??es anteriores, fornecendo uma estrutura te?rica mais complexa e que explique com maior coer?ncia os defeitos e a eventual parcialidade dos pontos de vista sendo superados.

¿Pueden las artes servir como una estrategia para estimular el desarrollo de capacidades? ¿De qué manera la participación en proyectos de Teatro Aplicado permite a quienes hacen parte de éstos la ampliación de sus libertades? A través del diálogo entre la propuesta teórica de Martha Nussbaum y la experiencia de vida de personas de diversas edades y proveniencias, que tienen en común haber participado de proyectos teatrales, se dará cuenta del efecto que tiene esta práctica en la afirmación de la identidad individual. En un contexto global caracterizado por el individualismo y la competencia, la afirmación de la identidad de quienes han participado de proyectos de Teatro Aplicado se sustenta en el reconocimiento y valoración de los otros. De esta manera, “ser uno mismo desde los zapatos del otro” se constituye como una capacidad que permite generar una idea de “nosotros” que es expresión empírica de los conceptos de “Imaginación Narrativa”, “Ciudadanía Global” y “Afiliación” que la filósofa norteamericana desarrolla desde su enfoque. A través del análisis de los testimonios de los entrevistados y de la identificación de las características específicas de la práctica teatral, se reconocerán los alcances que ésta tiene respecto al cultivo de algunas de las “Capacidades Centrales” que Nussbaum propone, y específicamente, al desarrollo de emociones públicas que puedan contribuir al fortalecimiento de las democracias y al florecimiento de las personas. En consecuencia, a partir del diálogo entre experiencias de vida concretas y las reflexiones teóricas de Nussbaum, se propone una manera de llevar a políticas y programas el Enfoque de las Capacidades, reconociendo en la experimentación y apreciación artística una dimensión fundamental para el Desarrollo Humano. / Tesis

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo fazer uma reflexão conjunta sobre a educação na ótica do desenvolvimento humano e as políticas de avaliação da educação vigentes no Brasil. Para tal, está divido em cinco seções: uma introdução com a contextualização da discussão teórica; a segunda, resumindo o modelo e as evidências dadas dentro do arcabouço analítico de Heckman, (que foca na importância das habilidades não cognitivas para o desempenho escolar e sua interação com as habilidades cognitivas). A terceira seção é dedicada à visão de educação no trabalho de Nussbaum, que trabalha com uma visão mais ampla de educação, focada no conceito de habilidades não cognitivas. Na quarta parte, examina-se a evolução das políticas educacionais brasileiras, com o foco na questão avaliativa e introduz-se alguns elementos críticos à luz do marco de desenvolvimento humano estabelecido. Por fim concluiu-se. / The objective of this dissertation is to jointly examine the meaning of education from a human development perspective in association with the evolution of the Brazilian educational assessment policies. Within this context, it is divided into five parts. After the introduction it examines Heckman’s model and its empirical evidences (where the importance of non cognitive skills for schooling and its relation with cognitive skills is highlighted). The third part delves into Nussbaum work and her arguments for non cognitive dimensions of education. The forth part critically analyses the evolution of educational assessment in Brazil. Then, it concludes.

The overall objective of this thesis is to examine in what way ethical theory and ethical analysis can contribute to further understanding of the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom. Based on the fact that the world is going through a process of globalization and migration, the education-system and daily praxis of teaching is put in front of new ethical challenges. The teacher in the multicultural classroom is on a daily base confronted with various dilemmas regarding for example conflicting duties, universal and conflicting values and citizenship. Martha Nussbaum´s theory of world citizenship is used as an analytical framework for the thesis and student interviews from upper secondary school is used as a complementary perspective to Nussbaum´s theory. The research questions of the thesis are: Can the theory of World Citizenship Education, when structured and analyzed, give guidance for teaching citizenship in a multicultural classroom? Is it a plausible theory confronted with the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom? In what way can a student perspective from a multicultural classroom try the relevance and present a complementary perspective to the theory of World citizenship education? The theory and the interviews are analyzed and structured out of the research questions and by the three ethical challenges of universal values, conflicting values and sense of belonging. The conclusion of the thesis states that, even though Nussbaum´s theory does have some constraints, it is to a large degree applicable and possible to relate to the ethical challenges of the multicultural classroom and as a guide for teachers. The theory is plausible in some aspects because it presents reasonable arguments on the necessity of educational reform in an interconnected world and because it makes educational proposals of instrumental worth of the teacher. The theory is however not plausible in other aspects because; the universal values presented are to vague and not specified which makes the theory difficult to use in practise, it does not pay enough attention to the conflicting perspective of the ethical challenges in classroom nor the pedagogical importance of social inclusion when discussing conflicting values and finally the theory demonstrates a contradiction regarding how to act as a teacher about sense of belonging and recognising identity of the students. The interviews demonstrate similar but also different responses to the ethical challenges in comparison with the theory. The students recognize the existence of universal values across cultural borders in a similar way as Nussbaum, even though the values put forward are of another character than Nussbaum´s. They do however present a sceptical view towards the idea of a world citizenship and stresses the importance of bringing up discussions about nationhood, migration and belonging without being afraid of breaking any taboos. At the end the thesis presents some practical guidelines for the teacher in the multicultural classroom that follows logical out of the conclusion. The final discussion highlight the fact that the challenges of the multicultural classroom in Sweden will likely continue, and emphasizes the potential of using ethics as an analytical tool for further developing a professional teaching approach.

Freedom of religion or belief is indisputable in Human rights discourse, more discussed is exactly what it is that is included in the concept of freedom of religion or belief (in Swedish: religionsfrihet). This thesis focuses on the freedom of religion or belief in a European context, in particular on the European court of human rights and article 9 in the European convention for human rights. Some criticism has been directed against the Court to the effect that its practice and verdicts don't answer to the pronounced desire to develop a pluralistic and inclusive form of freedom of religion or belief. My aim is to examine, analyse and test three different theories, which all try to develop alternatives to the expression freedom of religion or belief, in relation to six verdicts from article 9 in Europe convention. My basic purpose is to try to find new ways of talking about freedom of religion or belief that might lead to a more inclusive, pluralistic and equal interpretation of that concept. The three theories wich I use are elaborated by Richard Amesbury (associate professor at Claremont school of Theology); Hugo Strandberg (TD at Åbo Akademi) and Eberhard Herrmann (professor in philosophy of religion at Uppsala University); and Martha Nussbaum (professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago). The six cases from the European court are: X v. Federal Republic of Germany, X v. United Kingdom, Chappell v. United Kingdom, Dahlab v. Switzerland, Leyla Sahin v. Turkey, Dogru v. France. The results of this thesis suggest that the use of alternative expression to the Swedish term religionsfrihet might to a great extent lead to a more inclusive, pluralistic and equal form of freedom of religion or belief – for example in such areas as: individuality, minorities and frames of reference in society as such.

This Thesis will examine how the framing of ‘trolley problems’ incorrectly motivates arithmetic rankings of states of affairs by removing context. This is problematic because the context of these problems provides the tools to solve moral dilemmas by allowing one to analyze the relevant motivations, moral implications, duties, values, and personal and societal obligations that one has. I will discuss Samuel Scheffler’s charge that a paradox exists within agent-centered restrictions and how his abstract paradigmatic case leads to arithmetic rankings of choices, which are both unrealistic and lead to tragic and morally unacceptable decision making. I will argue that Allen Wood’s Middle Theory can help dispel the apparent paradox and demonstrate a better way to examine ‘trolley problems’. I will further discuss how Martha Nussbaum’s analysis of tragic questions illuminates the issues surrounding such problems providing a morally acceptable way to account for the occasional unavoidable harm that results in decision-making caused by solving ‘trolley problems.’ Taken together, Wood’s and Nussbaum’s theories and analysis provide potential solutions to ‘trolley problems.’

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo fazer uma reflexão conjunta sobre a educação na ótica do desenvolvimento humano e as políticas de avaliação da educação vigentes no Brasil. Para tal, está divido em cinco seções: uma introdução com a contextualização da discussão teórica; a segunda, resumindo o modelo e as evidências dadas dentro do arcabouço analítico de Heckman, (que foca na importância das habilidades não cognitivas para o desempenho escolar e sua interação com as habilidades cognitivas). A terceira seção é dedicada à visão de educação no trabalho de Nussbaum, que trabalha com uma visão mais ampla de educação, focada no conceito de habilidades não cognitivas. Na quarta parte, examina-se a evolução das políticas educacionais brasileiras, com o foco na questão avaliativa e introduz-se alguns elementos críticos à luz do marco de desenvolvimento humano estabelecido. Por fim concluiu-se. / The objective of this dissertation is to jointly examine the meaning of education from a human development perspective in association with the evolution of the Brazilian educational assessment policies. Within this context, it is divided into five parts. After the introduction it examines Heckman’s model and its empirical evidences (where the importance of non cognitive skills for schooling and its relation with cognitive skills is highlighted). The third part delves into Nussbaum work and her arguments for non cognitive dimensions of education. The forth part critically analyses the evolution of educational assessment in Brazil. Then, it concludes.