Philosophical perspectives in human development approach: Mahbub ul Haq, Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, and beyond

Abstract

This article examines the philosophical perspectives of three substantial human development approaches by Mahbub ul Haq, Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum, and defends reverence as an ethical value vital to the development of human capabilities. These human development theorists focus on individual agency, the extension of human choices and ethical values of freedom and dignity. In general, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, T. H. Green, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls primarily provide philosophical foundations to these human development theorists. Mahbub ul Haq’s idea of extending human choices, Sen’s idea of freedom, and Nussbaum’s idea of dignity are key ethical values essential to human development. The central question is whether reverence, as an ethical value, could help drive human development. Although choice, freedom and dignity are vital, reverence is essential to human development because it protects people from humiliation, exploitation, oppression, discrimination and exclusion. Thus, this article examines the philosophical perspectives of Mahbub ul Haq, Sen, and Nussbaum within the human development approach and, by going beyond their development paradigms, argues that reverence is an ethical value crucial to human development.