I have been reading Amartya Sen's recent musings in a book called "The Idea of Justice". I like the way Sen's builds his logic and thought flow and I like the way that Sen tries to compare, criticize and comment on different disciplines.
The hallmark of gifted thinkers across the ages was their cross-disciplinary thinking.
Post The Argumentative Indian Sen's journey towards being a Philosopher and a social scientist is complete with this book.
I quite like the idea that Justice as a construct is devoid of any absolutism. It is fluid and dynamic and what can get construed as "just" in one time and place might not be so, elsewhere.
Well this is true. And this whole thought of Ideas being relative and mutable rather than fixed and unchanging, has always found resonance with me.
You take physics and the uncertainty principle, you can take cognitive psychology and this whole concept of morality etc.
Sen too says that this relativism is best exemplified in the Indian body of thought where Justice is denoted by the concepts of Niti and Nyaya.
Niti is a kind of policy or rough thumb rules whereas Nyaya will involve a good amount of judgement and discretion.
This book can be a nice read on a Sunday afternoon.
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