Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice, Harvard University Press, 2009.
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Review
The most important contribution to the subject since John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. Sen argues that what we urgently need in our troubled world is not a theory of an ideally just state, but a theory that can yield judgments as to comparative justice, judgments that tell us when and why we are moving closer to or farther away from realizing justice in the present globalized world.
–Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
In lucid and vigorous prose, The Idea of Justice gives us a political philosophy that is dedicated to the reduction of injustice on Earth rather than to the creation of ideally just castles in the air. Amartya Sen brings political philosophy face to face with human aspiration and human deprivation in the real world, to whose improvement he has devoted his intellectual life.
–G. A. Cohen, University of Oxford
A major critical analysis and synthesis. Sen’s inclusive approach transcends the many important scholars and viewpoints that he analyzes. The Idea of Justice presents a set of considerations on justice of importance to both the academic community and to the world of policy formation.
–Kenneth Arrow, Nobel Laureate in Economics, Stanford University
Few contemporary thinkers have had as much direct impact on world affairs as Amartya Sen
–Philippe Van Parijs, Louvain University
In the courtliest of tones, Mr. Sen charges John Rawls, an American philosopher who died in 2002, with sending political thinkers up a tortuous blind alley. The Rawlsian project of trying to describe ideally just institutions is a distracting and ultimately fruitless way to think about social injustice, Mr. Sen complains. Such a spirited attack against possibly the most influential English-speaking political philosopher of the past 100 years will alone excite attention. The Idea of Justice serves also as a commanding summation of Mr. Sen’s own work on economic reasoning and on the elements and measurement of human well-being…Mr. Sen writes with dry wit, a feel for history and a relaxed cosmopolitanism…The Idea of Justice is a feast…Nobody can reasonably complain any longer that they do not see how the parts of Mr. Sen’s grand enterprise fit together…Mr. Sen ends, suitably, with democracy. It can take many institutional forms, he says. But none succeeds without open debate about values and principles. To that vital element in public reason, as he calls it, The Idea of Justice is a contribution of the highest rank.
—The Economist
一九三八年十二月二日，一小批有声望的图书馆员、学者、法学家和政界人士收到一封发自白宫的总统备忘录，注明“私人机密”，附一邀请，请收信人于十二月十日到白宫和总统共进午餐。那天是星期六，餐后安排了新闻发布会，跑白宫新闻的各大媒体记者互相打听，发生了什么大事，总统要在周末向公众宣布？午餐会很长，罗斯福耐心听取了客人们对备忘录的评价和建议，然后施展他的的个人政治魅力，引导大家跟随他的思路，指出公众利益所在，很快就得到了客人们的一致支持。接着，又领着众人参观总统档案里的文献珍品，以及公众和外国元首送给总统的礼物。欣赏完毕，才一起来到记者面前，郑重宣布那封“私人机密”总统备忘录：关于建立总统图书馆，永久收藏总统公务档案和私人文献的计划。
卡内基是钢铁巨头，财富仅次于洛克菲勒，若以今日的价值计算，高达3,050亿美元，远比《财富》杂志上任何一位巨贾例如比尔·盖茨先生有钱。但他一生中最辉煌的一页，照他自己的看法，是将财富的22%用于建设图书馆，主要是公共图书馆：他在美国和一些英语国家捐造了2,509座图书馆。公共图书馆是他单项捐款的龙头，也是他慈善事业的核心。卡内基是移民美国的苏格兰人，笃信民主价值和公民参政。他深知民主的成熟与成功，首先在于公民素质：公民须学习掌握基础的文化知识，能够自由思想、自由表达并行使道德意志，才不易受人操纵，从而积极主动地参与民主政治，作出知情且富有责任心的政治决定。这是现代民主社会的生命力，及正常有效运作的基础和保障。卡内基认为，公共图书馆便是培养教育这类理想公民的一个独特而有效的机构。他说：“世上的民主摇篮，非免费公共图书馆莫属。在这个知识理想国里，无论等级官阶还是财富，一概无须考虑” （引自奥布赖恩，页33）。
