Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/86380 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 04-055/2
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
This paper develops a conception of personal identity for Amartya Sen's capability framework that emphasizes his self-scrutinizing aspect of the self and related concept of commitment, and compares this conception to the co1lective intentionality-based one advanced in Davis (2003c). The paper also distinguishes personal identity and social identity, and contrasts Sen's framework with recent standard economics' explanation of social identity in terms of conformity. Sen's concept of commitment is examined in two formulations, and the later version is related to Bernard Wi1liams' thinking about identity-conferring commitments. The paper concludes by arguing that explaining personal identity as a special capability and possible object of social-economic policy provides one way of resolving the debate over whether the capability framework ought to have a short-list of essential capabilities.
Subjects: 
Sen
personal identity
social identity
commitment
reflexivity
theory of conformity
collective intentionality
Bernard Williams
capabilities
Nussbaum
JEL: 
D23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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