Technology and Human Development; A Capability Approach
Project description
Applying the capability approach of Nussbaum and Sen
to technology, engineering and design
Some influential theories of distributive justice, fairness and equality, like that of John Rawls, discuss fair distribution in terms of shares of primary goods available to people. The main criticism of philosopher and Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen of these views is that it is not the goods that are ultimately important, but what they allow us to do and be, the kind of lives they enable us to live. Giving everyone a laptop or some other piece of technology is no good in and by itself, according to Sen’s approach. Some people will be able to make good use of it and increase their level of functioning, but others who are illiterate or do not have access to reliable power supply cannot possibly convert their possession of the technology into anything useful in their lives. Human functionings and capabilities are therefore at the centre of Sen’s work, referred to as the ‘capability approach’. Although it has been widely adopted in development thinking, hardly any work has been done on the interrelations between the capability approach and technology. This is remarkable, since technology by definition aims at expanding human capabilities. This project investigates how the capability approach can be utilized in (thinking about) technological innovation and engineering design. The context of application for this project is innovation for the so-called ‘Base of the Pyramid’ (BoP) or the poor in developing countries. Case studies are taken from three engineering areas: ICTs, healthcare/medical technology and sustainable human settlements.
Public progress report 1 (January 2012)
Research partners
This research project is a joint effort of 3TU.Ethics and:
- Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft
- Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science
Researchers that are part of the team:
- Jeroen van den Hoven, 3TU.Ethics (project manager / promotor Ilse)
- Prabhu Kandachar, IDE / TU Delft (promotor Annemarie)
- Pramod Khadlikar, IISc (PhD candidate)
- Annemarie Mink, IDE / TU Delft (PhD candidate)
- Monto Mani, IISc (daily supervisor Pramod)
- Ilse Oosterlaken, 3TU.Ethics (PhD candidate)
- Vikram Parmar, IDE / TU Delft (daily supervisor Annemarie)
Funding
This project has been funded with a grant of 550.000 euro by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), as part of their grant program called 'Responsible Innovation'.Below only a selection of the publications of 3TU.Ethics members in the project are listed. For publications of other project members, please visit their websites (see above).
Key publications
Oosterlaken, Ilse. 2012. "Is Pogge a capability theorist in disguise? A critical examination of Thomas Pogge’s defence of Rawlsian resourcism". Ethical Theory & Moral Practice, on-line first, accepted for publication January 27, 2012; DOI 10.1007/s10677-012-9344-9.
available onlineOosterlaken, Ilse. 2012. "The capability approach, technology and design – Taking stock and looking ahead". In: The Capability Approach, Technology and Design (eds. Ilse Oosterlaken & Jeroen van den Hoven). Dordrecht: Springer.available online
Oosterlaken, Ilse. 2012. "Inappropriate artefacts, unjust design? – Human diversity as a key concern in the capability approach and inclusive design". In: The Capability Approach, Technology and Design (eds. Ilse Oosterlaken & Jeroen van den Hoven). Dordrecht: Springer.available online
Oosterlaken, Ilse; David Grimshaw & Pim Janssen. 2012. "Marrying the capability approach with appropriate technology and STS - The case of podcasting devices in Zimbabwe". In: The Capability Approach, Technology and Design (eds. Ilse Oosterlaken & Jeroen van den Hoven). Dordrecht: Springer.available online
Van den Hoven, Jeroen. 2012. "Human Capabilities and Technology". In: The Capability Approach, Technology and Design (eds. Ilse Oosterlaken & Jeroen van den Hoven). Dordrecht: Springer.
Oosterlaken, Ilse. 2011. Inserting technology in the relational ontology of Sen’s capability approach. In: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, vol. 12, no. 3, August 2011, pp. 425-432.available online
Oosterlaken, Ilse & Jeroen van den Hoven. 2011. "Editorial: ICT and the capability approach". In: Ethics and Information Technology 13(2) (special issue).
Oosterlaken, Ilse. 2010. Diseño de tecnología para el desarrollo humano - un enfoque de capacidades. En: Tecnología para el Desarrollo Humano, Ayuda Humanitaria y Emergencias. Actas de las jornadas. 7 y 8 de mayo de 2009. Editor: Centro de Cooperación al Desarrollo, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Valencia: Editorial UPV (ISBN: 978-84-8363-536-0).
available onlineOosterlaken, Ilse. 2009. "Design for Development; A Capability Approach". In: Design Issues, 25(4).
