IDEA FOUND // IDEA 105
The Capability Approach
“Having a resource does not guarantee a real opportunity to use it.”
01 / PLAINLY
What it means, plainly
The capability approach evaluates people's real opportunities to be and do things they have reason to value.
02 / CONTEXT
A little more
The capability approach evaluates people's effective opportunities to be and do valuable things. Sen and Nussbaum develop it differently, and the framework alone is not a complete theory of justice.
03 / WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
It prevents us from assuming that the same resource creates the same freedom when physical or social barriers differ.
04 / EXAMPLE
A familiar example
Two people receive the same bicycle, but a physical or social barrier may prevent one from gaining actual mobility.
05 / LIMIT
What it does not mean
Capability does not mean inner talent or an uncontested universal list of correct ways to live.
06 / NOTICE
Notice it in your day
Imagine a bicycle or online course offered to two people. List the barriers that could turn the same resource into different real opportunities.
FINAL NOTE
The idea worth keeping
Measure effective freedom, not only resources delivered or outcomes observed.
QUESTIONS / 02
Questions people still have
What does the capability approach measure?
Effective freedom or real opportunity, not merely resources delivered or the final outcome.
Does capability mean an inner talent?
No. Here it means an effective opportunity to be and do within concrete conditions.