From: Patrick van den Berg (cirandar@yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Oct 10 2003 - 23:31:32 BST
Hi Wim,
> The most basic
> > capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy
> lives, to
> be
> > knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent
> standard
> > of living and to be able to participate in the life of the
> community.
Choices are not the most valueble things; free relationships with other
humans is what matters. (You say this, when you talk about respecting
people; but how different the world would look if not wealth and choices
are the most worthwile things, but our appreciation and indeed
respectful curiosity towards other people).
Greetings, Patrick.
> > Without these, many choices are simply not available, and many
> opportunities
> > in life remain inaccessible.
> >
> > This way of looking at development, often forgotten in the immediate
> concern
> > with accumulating commodities and financial wealth, is not new.
> > Philosophers, economists and political leaders have long emphasized
> human
> > wellbeing as the purpose, the end, of development. As Aristotle said
> in
> > ancient Greece, "Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking,
> for it
> is
> > merely useful for the sake of something else."
> >
> > In seeking that something else, human development shares a common
> vision
> > with human rights. The goal is human freedom. And in pursuing
> capabilities
> > and realizing rights, this freedom is vital. People must be free to
> exercise
> > their choices and to participate in decision-making that affects
> their
> > lives. Human development and human rights are mutually reinforcing,
> helping
> > to secure the well-being and dignity of all people, building
> self-respect
> > and the respect of others.'
> >
> > [End of quote]
> >
> > Enumerating and compiling statistics about all the things people can
> do or
> > be in life and setting the highest (apparently) achievable limits as
> goals
> > (like the UNDP HDR's do) is not really a way to describe what the
> economy
> > should be. It tells us very little about how we should organize the
> > realizing of those goals.
> >
> > Even making 'freedom' our goal in economics and seeking more
> capabilities
> > and more rights as means to realize that goal, misses the point that
> > 'freedom from' want will always elude human striving if the origin
> of want
> > and wants is not recognized. Without wants we have no identity and
> our
> > existence has no meaning without wanting things ever new things.
> > 'Freedom to' choose and the right to create one's own life is
> pointless
> > without wants or even without own wants, not copied from others.
> >
> > The analysis of the origin of want and wants and of our present
> economy
> > suggests that:
> > 1) Peoples' needs and interests should not be taken as given. They
> can be
> > and are influenced by what others want and by what they want them to
> want.
> > 2) Having more capabilities, more choices available to them and more
> rights
> > to exercise them, people often do not choose and act wisely. More
> often
> than
> > not they leave the choices to leaders of diverse kinds, who not only
> take
> > into consideration the well-being of their followers but also -and
> often
> > disproportionately- that of themselves.
> > 3) More often than not people involuntary behave like everybody
> else,
> > following 'normal' patterns of behaviour, because their sense of
> identity
> > and ability to act independently is limited to a small part of their
> lives.
> >
> > I know no conventional view of what the economy should be that takes
> this
> > into account.
> >
> > [to be continued]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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