Now for something completely different. Over the past few years, I have contemplated philosophy in the context of work and life. Our re-reading of How To Be A Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci is just the tip of the iceberg. Today we take the second exit at the roundabout and start the read/re-read of Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. My eldest daughter and her partner suggested this book after an early morning discussion on change and economic disparities. They thought Sen’s work and this book would fit well into my contemplation of change and philosophy. It was pointed out they both had copies of the book and had kept their copies of the books over the years. Even though I was offered a loan of one of the copies, I decided to start with a loan from my library (I use Libby on my iPhone and iPad and love it) and then bought a copy of my own. 

Why this topic shift? I don’t see it as a total divergence. Rather I assert that change, philosophy, and economics are intertwined. It is easy to see the relationship at a societal level and harder to see at an organization or team level. Even though they are influenced by many of the same factors. This led me to accept the recommendation and to read works in the dismal science (I read a lot of economics in undergrad and grad school). Let me know how you perceive the relationship between these topics.

The version of Development as Freedom I began reading was published by Anchor Books in 2000 (borrowed from the library using Libby). I am reading it on my Kindle. This version includes a Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction, and 12 Chapters. I completed the re-read with the 2011 reprint (on the Kindle).

I intend to complete this re-read in 15 installments with a forecast completion of late May 2025.  Buy a copy and read along. We will begin the next week by diving into the Preface and Introduction. Buy a copy of Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen and read along.