The Capability Approach An Interdisciplinary Introduction Ingrid Robeyns Version August 14th, 2017 Draft Book Manuscript Not for further circulation, please. Revising will start on September 22nd, 2017. Comments welcome, E: [email protected] 1 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 5 1.1 Why the capability approach? ................................................................................. 5 1.2 The worries of the sceptics ....................................................................................... 7 1.3 A yardstick for the evaluation of prosperity and progress ........................... 9 1.4 Scope and development of the capability approach ...................................... 13 1.5 A guide to the reader ................................................................................................ 16 2 Core ideas and the framework .......................................................................... 18 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 18 2.2 A preliminary definition of the capability approach ..................................... 20 2.3 The capability approach versus capability theories ...................................... 24 2.4 The many modes of capability analysis ............................................................. 26 2.5 The modular view of the capability approach ................................................. 31 2.6 Module A: the non-optional core properties of all capability theories ... 33 2.6.1 A1: Functionings and capabilities .................................................................................. 33 2.6.2 A2: functionings and capabilities are value-neutral categories ........................ 36 2.6.3 A3: Conversion factors ........................................................................................................ 39 2.6.4 A4: The means-ends distinction ..................................................................................... 41 2.6.5 A5: Functionings and capabilities as the evaluative space ................................. 44 2.6.6 A6: Other dimensions of ultimate value ...................................................................... 46 2.6.7 A7: Value pluralism .............................................................................................................. 48 2.6.8 A8: Normative individualism, or each person as an end ..................................... 49 2.7 Modules B: non-optional modules with optional content ............................ 51 2.7.1 B1: The purpose of the capability theory ................................................................... 52 2.7.2 B2: The selection of dimensions. .................................................................................... 52 2.7.3 B3: Human diversity ............................................................................................................ 54 2.7.4 B4: Agency ................................................................................................................................ 55 2.7.5 B5: Structural constraints. ................................................................................................ 55 2.7.6 B6: The choice between functionings, capabilities, or both ............................... 57 2.7.7 B7: meta-theoretical commitments .............................................................................. 57 2.8 Modules C: contingent modules ............................................................................ 58 2.8.1 C1: Additional ontological and explanatory theories ............................................ 58 2.8.2 C2: Weighing dimensions .................................................................................................. 59 2.8.3 C3: methods for empirical analysis. .............................................................................. 62 2.8.4 C4: Additional normative principles and concerns ................................................ 63 2 2.9 Hybrid theories .......................................................................................................... 63 2.10 The relevance of the modular view ..................................................................... 65 2.11 A visualisation of the core conceptual elements ............................................. 68 2.12 The narrow and broad uses of the capability approach ............................... 70 2.13 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 73 3 Clarifications ........................................................................................................... 74 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 74 3.2 Refining the notion of ‘capability’ and ‘functioning’ ...................................... 75 3.2.1 Capability as an opportunity versus capability as an opportunity set .......... 75 3.2.2 Nussbaum’s terminology ................................................................................................... 77 3.2.3 What are ‘basic capabilities’? ........................................................................................... 78 3.2.4 Conceptual and terminological refinements ............................................................. 80 3.3 Are capabilities freedoms, and if so, which ones? .......................................... 82 3.3.1 Capabilities as positive freedoms? ................................................................................ 83 3.3.2 Capabilities as opportunity or option freedoms? .................................................... 87 3.3.3 Are capabilities best understood as freedoms? ....................................................... 89 3.4 Functionings or capabilities? ................................................................................. 91 3.5 Human diversity in the capability approach .................................................... 96 3.6 Collective capabilities .............................................................................................. 99 3.7 Which notion of well-being in the capability approach? ........................... 101 3.7.1 The aim and context of accounts of well-being ..................................................... 103 3.7.2 The standard taxonomy of philosophical well-being accounts ...................... 105 3.7.3 The accounts of well-being in the capability approach ..................................... 108 3.8 Happiness and the capability approach .......................................................... 110 3.8.1 What is the happiness approach? ............................................................................... 111 3.8.2 The ontological objection ............................................................................................... 112 3.8.3 Mental adaptation and social comparisons ............................................................ 113 3.8.4 Comparing groups ............................................................................................................. 116 3.8.5 Macro analysis ..................................................................................................................... 117 3.8.6 The place of happiness in the capability approach ............................................. 118 3.9 The capability approach and adaptive preferences ................................... 120 3.10 Can the capability approach be an explanatory theory? ........................... 125 3.11 A suitable theory for all normative questions? ............................................ 127 3.12 The role of resources in the capability approach ........................................ 129 3.13 The capability approach and theories of justice .......................................... 130 3.13.1 A brief description of the literature on theories of justice ......................... 131 3 3.13.2 What do we need for a capability theory of justice? ...................................... 136 3.13.3 From theories of justice to just practices and policies ................................. 142 3.14 Capabilities and human rights ........................................................................... 144 3.14.1 What are human rights? ............................................................................................. 145 3.14.2 The interdisciplinary scholarship on human rights ...................................... 146 3.14.3 Why a capability-based account of human rights? ......................................... 148 3.14.4 Are capabilities sufficient to make a theory of human rights? .................. 149 3.14.5 The disadvantages ........................................................................................................ 150 3.15 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 152 4 Critiques and debates ......................................................................................... 153 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 153 4.2 Is everything that’s called a capability also genuinely a capability? ..... 154 4.3 Should we commit to a specific list of capabilities?