The end of the human in the united nations’ human development concept
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The concept of human development of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) emerged in 1990 as a critique of the consideration of the economy as the ultimate goal of development efforts. In the view of the UNDP, the economy is considered a relative end, that is, an end and a means for human development. When considering, for its part, the end of human development, this is identified with the widening of the elections and freedoms that individuals enjoy. In this sense, this concept of human development refers to a political practice rather than an ethical-ontological understanding of the human being, avoiding referring to human development understood as a development of the human being. This article explores the background of the UNDP concept of human development and the ends these prior approaches consider. It is observed that the subjectivist consideration of the UNDP comes from the theory of Amartya Sen, who remains subject to the objectivist criticism of Martha Nussbaum for not considering an objective end for human affairs, a criticism that can also be applied to the concept of human development of the UNDP.
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