The Capability Approach
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The capability approach is a normative framework built on two claims: the freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance, and well-being should be understood in terms of people's capabilities and functionings. Capabilities are the states a person can achieve or become if they choose; functionings are capabilities already realized. Developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, it shifts evaluation away from resources or utility toward real freedom.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Shift the evaluative lens: judge well-being by what people can actually do and become, not by resources held. - Calibrate conversion factors: compare how identical resources yield different outcomes for differently situated people. - Reset the equality standard: define fairness as equal capability space rather than equal shares of resources.
Anchor fast decisions
The approach moves the evaluative focus from resources or utility to what a person can actually do and be. Identical resources produce different outcomes: a person with a disability, a pregnant woman, or someone in a cold climate needs more resources for the same functioning, which is the work of conversion factors. Equality therefore means guaranteeing an equal space of capabilities, not handing everyone the same things.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/capability-approach/verified
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