ABSTRACT
Sen's Aristotelian departure from his contemporaries is seen especially in his argument that economics originated separately from ethics, on the one hand, and from engineering, on the other. Sen argues that individuals are as often motivated by group interests as they are by self-interest. A striking worker may sacrifice his or her personal well-being for that of the union. Sen formulated the capabilities approach out of his extensive study and criticism of utilitarianism, welfarism and Rawls' theory of primary goods. Sen proposes capabilities as a solution to the conceptual difficulty that he identifies in utilitarianism, welfarism and the primary goods approach insofar as they ignore difference. Moreover, Sen's theory of goods recalls Aristotle's theory of value, in which the value of a good is proportional to the function it performs for the user. Sen concludes that "The value of the living standard lies in the living and not in the possessing of commodities.".
