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Amartya Sen revisits the issues tackled in his previous seminal work, ‘On Economic Inequality’, first published in 1973 and expanded in 1997, and provides new analyses and insights in this crucial area. The book brings together and develops some of the most important themes of Sen's work over the last decade. He notes that the difference between virtually all contemporary ethical approaches to social arrangements lies not in whether they all demand equality of something, but in what sort of equality they propound. Any claim to equality must take account of the diversity of human beings and their characteristics. Sen argues that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than either their resources or their welfare. He also looks at some types of inequalities that have not yet been studied as systematically as inequalities of class and wealth have been. These include, inter alia, the important issue of gender inequality.

The two concepts — human rights and capabilities — go well with each other, so long as we do not try to subsume either concept entirely within the territory of the other. There are many human rights that can be seen as rights to particular capabilities. However, human rights to important process freedoms cannot be adequately analysed within the capability framework. Furthermore, both human rights and capabilities have to depend on the process of public reasoning. The methodology of public scrutiny draws on Rawlsian understanding of 'objectivity' in ethics, but the impartiality that is needed cannot be confined within the borders of a nation. Public reasoning without territorial confinement is important for both.Human rights, Capabilities, Public reasoning, Freedom,