Moral Sentiments, Institutions, and Civil Society: Exploiting Family Resemblances between Smith and Hegel to Resolve Some Conceptual Issues in Sen’s Recent Contributions to the Theory of Justice

27 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2012

See all articles by Ivan Boldyrev

Ivan Boldyrev

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow)

Carsten Herrmann-Pillath

Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies

Date Written: June 19, 2012

Abstract

In his Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen compares the two basic approaches to evaluate institutions, transcendental institutionalism and realization-focused comparisons. Referring to Smith’s Impartial Spectator, he argues in favor of the latter and proposes the principle of Open Impartiality. However, this cannot solve the tension between universalism and contextualization of values that Sen therefore inherits from Smith. Based on recent Hegel scholarship, we argue that some of the difficulties can be resolved, considering the role Smith played in the development of Hegel’s thinking. Hegel’s concept of recognition plays an essential role in establishing the possibility of impartiality both on the level of consciousness and on the level of institutional intersubjectivity. Hegel’s critique of Kants formalist ethics (also considered as transcendental institutionalism by Sen), his analysis of the civil society in the Philosophy of Right, especially his focus on associations and estates, can serve as a model for making Sen’s focus on public discourse theoretically more concise and pragmatically feasible.

Keywords: theory of moral sentiments, Sen, Hegel, recognition, civil society, associations, public discourse

JEL Classification: B12, B25, B52

Suggested Citation

Boldyrev, Ivan and Herrmann-Pillath, Carsten, Moral Sentiments, Institutions, and Civil Society: Exploiting Family Resemblances between Smith and Hegel to Resolve Some Conceptual Issues in Sen’s Recent Contributions to the Theory of Justice (June 19, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2087251 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2087251

Ivan Boldyrev

National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) ( email )

Myasnitskaya street, 20
Moscow, Moscow 119017
Russia

Carsten Herrmann-Pillath (Contact Author)

Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies ( email )

Nordhäuserstr. 74
Erfurt, 90228
Germany

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