Amartya Sen's Capabilities Approach: Resistance and Transformative Power in the Age of Transhumanism

Abstract

Although the development of transhuman technologies has the potential to radically improve the quality of human life, transhumanism risks widening existing socio‐economic disparity. A side effect of innovative advance in AI (artificial intelligence) and IA (intelligence amplification) would be a society with a large underclass dominated by a techno‐elite. For my analysis, I will draw on Amartya Sen's Capabilities Approach, which focuses on opportunities that make possible an individuals’ capabilities of choosing to pursue their life values and well‐being. This article explores how Sen's approach can serve as a foundational framework to critique capitalism‐driven technological development and consequent social inequality. It further examines how it can serve as guidance for a democratic and just transhumanist society by necessitating the establishment of social conditions where all persons can flourish.