ABSTRACT
Amartya Sen’s critique of self-interest begins properly with the concept of commitment. Commitment, as Sen first introduces it in ‘Rational Fools’ and which subsequently becomes the type of commitment which violates self-welfare goal, is a further way of escaping the assumption that the individual’s motivation be exclusively self-interested. The terminology with which Sen describes violations of self-goal choice are strikingly similar to the terminology with which he depicts acting on an as-if ranking. Mutually cooperative players, Sen Stresses, would do better according to their ‘true’ preferences by acting on a moral rule of behaviour. Sen rejects the ascription of a goal to the agent which underlies her choices, be that goal the pursuit of her welfare, the pursuit of another person’s goal or the goal of acting according to a social norm.
