ABSTRACT
The chapter brings in conversation Sen’s conception of development with that of the Catholic social tradition on their understanding of what it is to be human, that is, their anthropological vision. It discusses Sen’s relational anthropology. Listening, speaking, interacting with others, showing empathy, taking the suffering of others as one’s own, and reasoning with others about how to address it are conceived as core human faculties. The chapter highlights the open-ended nature of Sen’s anthropological vision, which creates a space for dialogue with other visions. It then discusses the anthropological vision of the Catholic social tradition. It highlights how Sen’s principle of each person as an end is maintained but with a stronger emphasis on how well people’s relationships are doing, both with each other and with nature. There is also a stronger connection between the socio-environmental crisis and the exercise of human freedom, adding to Sen’s core human faculties of listening, interacting, empathizing, and reasoning, that of listening to the non-human world, and that of expressing gratitude. The chapter concludes by examining how Sen’s capability approach to development could in turn contribute to the Catholic social tradition with its greater focus on reasoning and women’s marginalization.
