Religion and the capability approach: The contribution of Laudato Si’ to urban integration policies

• Severine Deneulin (Universidad de Bath, Reino Unido)
• Augusto Zampini Davies (Universidad de Bath, Reino Unido)

The presentation will be drawn from a paper which examines how a critical engagement between the capability approach and religious traditions could enrich the capability approach and contribute to human development policies. After reviewing how the capability approach has so far engaged with religion (through the use of religious narratives as a possible component of public reasoning, and an emphasis on dialogue to transform unjust situations), the presentation furthers this current engagement with reference to the Catholic tradition in the context of climate change and global environmental degradation. It explores how Pope Francis’s ecological letter Laudato Si’: On the Care of our Common Home can complement the capability approach in framing more integral human development policies in the context of the Latin American mega-city. It will discuss two contributions Laudato Si’ can make to the capability approach and human development policies: 1) a more relational anthropology which anchors human freedom in the deep inter-connectedness of all forms of life; 2) a greater scope for the recognition of the misuse of human freedom against the flourishing of others and the ensuing structures which such misuses create.