Senses of Sen: Reflections on Amartya Sen’s Ideas of Justice

26 Pages Posted: 23 Feb 2012 Last revised: 2 Jun 2012

See all articles by César Arjona

César Arjona

ESADE Business School; Ramon Llull University - Facultat de Dret d'Esade

Arif A. Jamal

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law

Carrie Menkel-Meadow

University of California, Irvine School of Law; Georgetown University Law Center

Victor V. Ramraj

University of Victoria - Faculty of Law

Francisco Satiro

University of São Paulo (USP) - Commercial Law

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

This review essay explores how Amartya Sen’s recent book, The Idea of Justice, is relevant and important for the development and assessment of transnational theories and applications to transnational justice and legal education programs. The essay captures a trans-jural dialogue of multinational scholars and teachers, discussing Sen’s contributions to moral justice theory (criticizing programs for “transcendental institutionalism” (like Rawlsian theory) and instead focusing on “comparative broadening” including empirical, relative, and comparative assessments of programs to ameliorate injustice in the world in its comparative concreteness (as in Indian social justice theory and Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and related work). The authors are professors in the transnational legal education program, the Center for Transnational Legal Studies, sponsored by over 25 different law schools, located in London. They teach courses in a wide variety of subjects, including comparative legal theory, constitutional law, business and legal ethics, moral and legal philosophy, international and comparative law, capital markets and business law, emergency powers, international dispute resolution and a variety of other common and civil law subjects.

Keywords: legal and political theory, transnational legal studies, Amartya Sen, international law, jurisprudence, legal education

JEL Classification: K00, K33, K30, K39

Suggested Citation

Arjona, César and Jamal, Arif A. and Menkel-Meadow, Carrie J. and Ramraj, Victor Vridar and Satiro, Francisco, Senses of Sen: Reflections on Amartya Sen’s Ideas of Justice (2012). International Journal of Law in Context, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 155-178, 2012 , Georgetown University: Center for Transnational Legal Studies Paper No. 12-015, UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2012-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2008832 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2008832

César Arjona

ESADE Business School ( email )

Av. de Pedralbes, 60-62
Barcelona, 08034
Spain

Ramon Llull University - Facultat de Dret d'Esade ( email )

Spain

Arif A. Jamal

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law ( email )

469G Bukit Timah Road
Eu Tong Sen Building
Singapore, 259776
Singapore

Carrie J. Menkel-Meadow (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine School of Law ( email )

401 E. Peltason Drive
Irvine, CA 92697-1000
United States
949-824-1987 (Phone)

Georgetown University Law Center ( email )

600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States
202-662-9379 (Phone)
202-662-9412 (Fax)

Victor Vridar Ramraj

University of Victoria - Faculty of Law ( email )

PO Box 1700 STN CSC
McGill at Ring Rds (Fraser Bldg)
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2
Canada

Francisco Satiro

University of São Paulo (USP) - Commercial Law ( email )

São Paulo
Brazil

HOME PAGE: http://www.direito.usp.br

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