Standard normative economics in the tradition of the "new" welfare economics and social choice theory adopts an informational basis which depends exclusively on utilities people receive from an economic system and/or policy. Sen took an initiative to go beyond this tradition. He distinguished several contexts where the informational basis should be chosen appropriately in coping with each problem. He also identified distinct senses in which we can talk about individual preferences. Besides, he attempted to go beyond traditional consequentialist framework and recognize the intrinsic value of opportunity for choice and of procedural fairness. We examine his seminal contributions in detail.
