Martha Nussbaum The “capabilities approach” PHIL 102, UBC Christina Hendricks Spring 2018 Except images licensed otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC BY 4.0

Questions she is addressing How should we evaluate quality of life? What does this say about how we should help those in need? Image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com Image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com

Vasanti’s story Nussbaum starts Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (2011) with the story of Vasanti India 2011-07-18 at 07-24-24, Flickr photo by José Antonio Morcillo, licensed CC-BY

Common approaches to considering quality of life “Capabilities Human and Rights” (1997) What do you think might be good ways to measure people’s quality of life around the world?

GNP or GDP Problems: Doesn’t consider distribution Too narrow a measure Image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com

Utilitarian approaches (based on preference satisfaction) Problems: Also doesn’t consider distribution “adaptive preferences” (283)—can reinforce inequalities Friends image , chocolate image , rock climber image licensed CC0 from pixabay.com

Distribution of basic rights & resources John Rawls: rights & resources that all rational individuals would desire, so that even the least well off have a minimum level Problem: Having the rights & resources is not enough; social circumstances differences in ability & opportunity to use them (284)

The capabilities approach What Nussbaum advocates

Basics of this approach Asks: what are people “actually able to do and to be?” (285) There are certain capabilities required to live well/flourish as a human, to live with human dignity (286)

Nussbuam’s list of ten central capabilities (287-288) Life Emotions Other species Bodily health Practical reason Leisure/play Bodily integrity Affiliation Control over environment: political & material Senses, imagination, thought Your views…?

Capabilities vs. Functioning Combined capabilities include both: Internal capabilities: the internal ability to act (289) External conditions: social opportunities & freedoms to express internal ability (290) Functioning: fulfilling one or more capabilities (289) Why is it important to focus on capabilities rather than functioning?

How differs from utilitarianism? Distribution: Not just what people prefer or what will give them pleasure, but focus on flourishing as a human, living a fully human life

Capabilities & Human Rights (optional parts of article) Capabilities can clarify what “human rights” are (292-294) Emphasize both internal and external requirements for human rights Eleanor Roosevelt & the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948); public domain on Wikimedia Commons