Short Abstract:

This work shows how the Italian Constitution from 1948 relates to the Amartya Sen’s version of the capability approach. It examines articles 2 and 3 from the Constitution and show how Amartya Sen's rejection of utilitarianism and theory of development as freedom can be the basis of constitutionaly gounded public policies in Italy

Long Abstract:

This work shows how the Italian Constitution from 1948 relates to the Amartya Sen’s version of the capability approach. It starts from the political context of the Constitution, after the World War II, and its characterization as an antifascist Constitution by Italian political scientists and legal scientists. The antifascist inspiration and the Welfare State ideas are both elements that lie in the foundation of article 2 and article 3 of the Constitution. According to Article 2, the Italian Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable rights of people, both as individuals and in the social formations in which the personality is developed, and requires the fulfillment of the mandatory duties of economic, political and social solidarity. According to Article 3, comma 1, all citizens have the same social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinctions of sex, race, language, religion, political opinions, and personal and social conditions. Article 3, comma 2, states as a task of the Republic the removal of economic and social obstacles that, by factually limiting the freedom and equality among people, prevent the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the Country’s political, economic, and social organization. This constitutional contempt can be philosophically linked with the capability approach and examined under its concepts ant theoretical construction. The duties of solidarity relates to Amartya Sen’s conception of the human being as not exclusively self-interested and the rejection of the utilitarian racionality. The idea of removal of obstacles that limit freedom and equality and prevent full human development are very similar to Amartya Sen’s own theory of development as freedom, which means that Sen’s construction and the ways he suggest on the removal of obstacles can be the basis for public policies with constitucional ground in the Italian Republic.