Negotiating Capability

This Course: PS935: Negotiating Capability

Based on Sen’s theory of “capability,” this course will enhance the skill of negotiation. It will be grounded primarily in the theory of "capability" offered by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's theory of "capability.” He develops it by rereading the American philosopher John Rawls’s theory of the “Original Positions” and “veil of ignorance” in The Idea of Justice. He criticizes it as a contractarian theory and grounds it more in one’s own reason to value the action one undertakes. This concept of choice to do good or “willpower” is further developed in Ashmita Khasnabish’s theory of “philosophical politics” in Negotiating Capability and Diaspora: a Philosophical Politics. Finally, you learn how to argue and make the correct choice based on your moral imagination, which Sen traces back to the Buddhist text Sutta Nipata and Khasnabish’s philosophical view in the light of Indian philosophy involving ego-transcendence.

Readings:

Excerpt from Amartya Sen’s The Idea of Justice; Short Excerpt on John Rawls’s theory of the “Original Positions” from Laws of the Peoples: Public Reason Revisited.

Excerpt from Ashmita Khasnabish’s theory of “philosophical politics” from Negotiating Capability and Diaspora: a Philosophical Politics.

The class is asynchronous online, but the final presentation will be on Zoom (date and time TBA).

For any questions about course content, please contact the course instructor, Dr. Ashmita Khasnabish -- akhasnabish@lasell.edu.

This section of PS935: Negotiating Capability runs 11/2-11/22 in the Fall 2026 term. Students may enroll in the course up until 11/6. For any questions about enrollment or Lasell Professional Studies, please contact profstudies@lasell.edu.