HUMAN FLOURISHING AND SUBSTANTIVE JUSTICE: FOUR BRAZILIAN STRUCTURAL OBSTACLES TO THE REALIZATION OF CAPABILITIES IN THE 2030 AGENDA

Résumé

This article proposes a critical analysis of the concept of Human Development, shifting the focus from economic metrics (GDP) to the dimension of Prosperity (or Human Flourishing), understood as the effective capability of individuals to realize their substantive freedoms, as postulated by Amartya Sen. The study, anchored in the Theory of Justice by John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin, and contextualized by Gadamer's Hermeneutical Philosophy, investigates how the Brazilian State, despite the constitutional imperative of human dignity, structurally fails to create the institutional conditions for the full flourishing of its citizens. The methodology employed is deductive, utilizing high-level bibliographic research in Legal Theory and Constitutional Law. Four structural challenges are identified and analyzed as obstacles to the realization of capabilities: 1) persistent Social Injustice and inequality, 2) emerging Digital Exclusion in Society 4.0, 3) the crisis in Quality Education as a central capability, and 4) the selectivity and failure of Just Criminal Policies. It is argued that overcoming these challenges demands a hermeneutic-institutional commitment to reconfigure the State’s role for the effective fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda.