ABSTRACT
This chapter brings into dialogue the perspectives on the concept to development articulated by Amartya Sen’s capability approach and the Catholic social tradition. It starts with discussing three features of the capability approach that make it a well-suited conversation partner for dialogue with a religious tradition: its assessment of development in the kinds of lives that people live and what they are able to do and be, its open-endedness as an evaluative framework, and its attention to suffering and the marginalized. However, Sen’s capability approach does not go beyond evaluation and one may therefore question its reach in improving the lives of the marginalized. The chapter argues that a religious tradition could contribute in that respect. It discusses the Catholic social tradition’s conception of development and explores three contributions: the integration of a spiritual dimension in the concept of development, the integration of the earth among those who are suffering and marginalized, and the integration of oneself as the subject of development. It concludes by examining some points of divergence between the two perspectives, and explores how Sen’s capability approach could contribute to the Catholic social tradition, especially with regard to women’s marginalization.
