Abstract

In a series of articles and essays, published during the last twenty years, Amartya Sen, a well-known economist and political philosopher famous for his approach to social justice issues (the so called "capability approach"), has presented an original way to look at the idea of "moral rights". Contrasting both the neo-utilitaristic and the libertarian views, Sen has developed a coherent "Goal-Rights System", a right-based moral theory which doesn't rule out the possibility of a trade-off between moral rights and welfare goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore Sen's theory, considering it a substantive moral position - based on the view of rights in terms of "positive freedom" - rather than a neutral framework for deliberation, as Sen himself seems to consider.