GREAT EXPECTATIONS IN A WORLD OF INJUSTICE: INTERFACES BETWEEN AMARTYA SEN AND CHARLES DICKENS

Abstract

This paper promotes a comparison between Amartya Sen’s Idea of Justice and the masterpiece Great Expectations of English novelist Charles Dickens, published in 1860, shedding light on proximities and counterpoints between the theory of Sen and the experience of Dickens’ characters. This correlation departs from the epigraph of Sen’s work, which evokes the injustices experienced by the protagonist Pip in Great Expectations, opening a project of justice. For this purpose, the structural dimensions of Sen’s theory of justice will be revisited, as a concrete project for removal of injustices on the lines of rational argumentation and the theory of social choice, opposed to transcendent theories. In its turn, the universe of the boy Pip of Great Expectations reveals the complex path from childhood innocence to obsession and snobbery, with hopes and frustrations built in the backdrop of Victorian England, with the deep wound of poverty and inequality as a legacy of Industrial Revolution. Dickens, in this sense, is at once a sharp critic of his time, engaging in social transformation, and a master in exploring the psychological dynamics of human relationships. Hence, the authors become close on the poignant portrayal of injustice, demanding maximum and immediate removal. They are perhaps apart on the invitation to reflect abstractly on justice and ethics in itself, as well as on the weight given to the institutions. In any case, to reflect over justice in this shared space, in which the evocative power and communicative reach of ideas are expanded, becomes an enriching exercise in all senses.