Capability Approach

Capabilities Approach towards Education. The possible use of a holistic approach as policy tool for education in Uganda.

by René Vermeulen

Written as assignment for the course "Writing for Scientific Publication" Research Master Human Geography and Planning Utrecht University.

Education is seen as important for social and economical development. Implementation of Free Primary Education... more Education is seen as important for social and economical development. Implementation of Free Primary Education policies had positive as well as negative outcomes. The capabilities approach towards education brings a different approach to the field of educational policy. This article aims at using an analytical model of the capabilities approach as a holistic approach towards education and analyses to what extent this model can be used in policy practice in Uganda. Thereto, an qualitative study on the basis of one interview has been undertaken. The general conclusion from this article supports the existence of the capabilities approach as a hybrid and holistic perspective on education. Furthermore, it is concluded that the model is not yet used in policy practice. It has found its way into policy as an evaluation tool, but the possible step towards a policy planning tool is still up for debate.

Il Basic Income nella prospettiva delle Capabilities. Sicurezza protettiva e diversità non dominate / Basic Income in the Capabilities' perspective. Protective security and undominated diversity

by Emanuele Murra

in "Notizie di Politeia", issue 105, 2012, pp. 47-53, ISSN 1128-2401

For the advocates of basic income as instrument to guarantee real freedom, the capabilities approach constitutes an... more For the advocates of basic income as instrument to guarantee real freedom, the capabilities approach constitutes an important challenge. It seems that a universal and in-cache policy, such as basic income, would not play any role in a theory so aware of the diversity of people and so sceptic of the idea that real freedom would be achieved only thanks to higher income. But this assumption, which appears correct at first sight, is not confirmed after a careful evaluation of Sen’s proposal.
In the article, the Author shows how basic income would be a good instrument to fulfil what Sen calls protective security. Afterward, the article handles the question regarding how basic income could take into account some diversity in people’s capabilities thanks to the concept of undominated diversity.

Human Capabilities versus Human Capital: Guaging the value of education in developing countries

by Simon Wigley

Co-authored with Arzu Akkoyunlu

The purpose of this study is to defend the view that education should be evaluated in terms of the capability to... more The purpose of this study is to defend the view that education should be evaluated in terms of the capability to achieve valued functionings, rather than mental satisfaction or resources. In keeping with Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach we argue that mental satisfaction provides an inaccurate metric of well-being because of the phenomenon of adaptive preferences. Equally, resources cannot be used as a metric of well-being because of inequalities in the ability to convert income and commodities into valued functionings. Hence, interpreting education as a means to create human capital is also impoverished because it evaluates education solely in terms of the accumulation of resources. In order to provide evidence in support of the human capabilities approach we statistically examine the channels through which educational attainment affects the health functionings implied by life expectancy. Using panel data analysis for 35 developing countries for the years 1990, 1995 and 2000 we compare the health functionings (as indicated by life expectancy) that are achieved by the income growth generated by educational attainment, with the total health functionings that are achieved by educational attainment. We find that educational attainment (as indicated by average years of schooling) has a significant effect on life expectancy independently of its effect by way of income growth. A 1% increase in per capita income increases life expectancy by 0.073954%, while a 1% increase in average years of schooling directly increases life expectancy by 0.055324%. Because it shows that income underestimates the health functionings achieved by educational attainment, our empirical findings lend support to the claim that the value of education should

Les debemos algo a los animales salvajes-Torres Aldave

by Mikel Torres Aldave

LLOBERA, I., “Aristotelian Social Justice” [Review of NUSSBAUM, M.C., Creating Capabilities. The Human Development Approach]

by Ignasi Llobera Trias

Reimagining the purpose of VET – Expanding the capability to aspire in South African Further Education and Training students

by Lesley Powell

Abstract

This paper applies the capabilities approach to the broader debate of the role of vocational... more Abstract

This paper applies the capabilities approach to the broader debate of the role of vocational education and training (VET) in poverty alleviation. The capabilities approach provides an approach for conceptualising and evaluating VET which differs in orientation from dominant productivist conceptions. It does so by shifting the focus from economic development to human development. By placing the well-being of VET students at the centre of our concern it shifts the lens from income generation and with it employability to a lens on capability expansion which includes but is not limited to the capability to work. The paper is based on interviews with 20 South African Further Education and Training (FET) college students. The central argument is that VET has an important role to play in poverty alleviation, but only if located in a multi-dimensional view of poverty which understands poverty as capability deprivation across multiple human functionings. In this broader notion of poverty, the role that VET plays includes training for employability, but also includes the expansion of other important capabilities such as, and in the voice of a FET student interviewed in this study, ‘the ability to dream’, or in the language of the capabilities approach, the capability to aspire.

"Nussbaum's Feminist Critique of Rawls on International Justice"

by Eileen Hunt Botting

Submitted to Feminist Interpretations of John Rawls, ed. Ruth Abbey (under contract, Penn State Press).

In her book Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006) , Martha Nussbaum has advanced a... more In her book Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006) , Martha Nussbaum has advanced a feminist critique of Rawls’s theory of international justice. While she identifies herself as a student of Rawls and dedicates the book to his memory, Nussbaum seeks to show the insufficiency of his theory of international justice, particularly as found in his Law of Peoples (1999) , when it comes to defending the rights of women in developing countries. She contends that this insufficiency is mainly due to his use of social contract theory, and its attendant concepts of basic human rights, nationality, and the public-private distinction. In contrast, she offers an alternative human rights approach to global justice: the capabilities approach. The capabilities approach seeks to establish and defend a just and robust standard of human development across nation-states. While the capabilities approach gives Nussbaum an edge over Rawls in making strong, universalistic critiques of unjust patriarchal, religious, and familial practices toward women in developing nations, it runs the risk of seeming imperial and appearing as though it seeks to impose “Western” and “feminist” values on such nations. For this reason, the universalistic language of Nussbaum’s capabilities approach is more valuable for defending women’s human rights in situations of minimum cultural or religious conflict. Because of his stricter commitment to tolerating a reasonable pluralism of values across nations, Rawls’s basic human rights approach is more useful for defending women’s human rights in situations of cultural or religious conflict. Moreover, Rawls provides an argument for the just, emergency use of military force to defend women’s human rights, a hard case from which Nussbaum’s theory steers clear. Through the comparison of their theories of justice, both Rawls’s and Nussbaum’s human rights approaches emerge in different ways as useful resources for advancing feminist values in international and transnational relations.

Keywords: John Rawls, Law of Peoples, Martha Nussbaum, Capabilities Approach, Feminist Theory, International Justice

Intersubjectivity and Evaluations of Justice

by Gustavo Pereira

The capability approach assigns a central role to the contexts within which social interactions take place, which make... more The capability approach assigns a central role to the contexts within which social interactions take place, which make individual liberty achievable. However, an auxiliary concept is necessary to explain the contexts of collective action more accurately. In this paper I shall present Taylor’s concept of irreducibly social goods as a supplement to the capability approach. I shall also introduce the concept of hermeneutics as a strategy suitable for evaluating which capabilities are to be considered valid, as an alternative to aggregative methodologies. This conceptual development at the core of the capability approach demands to be framed by a normative criterion that enable us to distinguish between emancipatory and conservative contexts of social action; for that purpose I make use of the subject idealization that Honneth and Anderson present.

Is Pogge a Capability Theorist in Disguise?- A Critical Examination of Thomas Pogge's Defence of Rawlsian Resourcism

by Ilse Oosterlaken

Ethical Theory & Moral Practice. Aaccepted for publication January 27, 2012. DOI 10.1007/s10677-012-9344-9.

Thomas Pogge answers the question if the capability approach can be justified with a firm ‘no’. Amongst others, he... more Thomas Pogge answers the question if the capability approach can be justified with a firm ‘no’. Amongst others, he ridicules capability theorists for demanding compensation for each and every possible natural difference between people, including hair types. Not only does Pogge, so this paper argues, misconstrue the difference between the capability approach and Rawlsian resourcism. Even worse: he is actually implicitly relying on the idea of capabilities in his def ence of the latter. According to him the resourcist holds that the institutional order should not be biased towards the average person or the needs of some. Yet, as his own case of blind people and traff ic lights can illustrate, whether or not this is the case is impossible to assess without resorting to some concept like people’s capabilities. Secondly , it is argued that the real issue at stake is not at all the best metric of justice—primary goods or capabilities—but rather the
scope of theories of justice. On the surf ace the diff erence of opinion seems to be how to deal with so-called “personal heterogeneities”, yet the discussed case of interpersonal differences in metabolism and communal land-use choices hints at something else; Whereas Pogge insists that questions of justice only concern the institutional structure of society ,
many capability theorists support the inclusion of culture and social practices as possible sources of injustice. Unfortunately Pogge does not properly acknowledge this, as right from the start of his paper he frames the debate between both approaches in terms of institutions only .

Grundbefähigungsgleichheit im Gesundheitswesen

by Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs

in: Ethik in der Medizin, Juni 2005, pp. 90-102

Grundbefaehigungen. Zum Verhältnis von Ethik und Ökonomie

by Jan-Hendrik Heinrichs

PhD Thesis.
Published as
Grundbefaehigungen. Zum Verhältnis von Ethik und Ökonomie. Mentis: Paderborn 2006

Neither dashboard nor ‘mashup’ indices: an empirical wealth approach as a pathway to a comprehensive measure of development

by Emanuele Felice

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d’Economia i d’Història Econòmica. UHE Working Paper 2012_01, 2012

The article is composed of two sections. The first one is a critical review of the three main alternative indices to... more The article is composed of two sections. The first one is a critical review of the three main alternative indices to GDP which were proposed in the last decades – the Human Development Index (HDI), the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and the Happy Planet Index (HPI) – which is made on the basis of conceptual foundations, rather than looking at issues of statistical consistency or mathematical refinement as most of the literature does. The pars construens aims to propose an alternative measure, the composite wealth index, consistent with
an approach to development based on the notion of composite wealth, which is in turn derived from an empirical common sense criterion. Arguably, this approach is suitable to be conveyed into
an easily understandable and coherent indicator, and thus appropriate to track development in its various dimensions: simple in its formulation, the wealth approach can incorporate social and ecological goals without significant alterations in conceptual foundations, while reducing to a minimum arbitrary weighting.

É possibile migliorare il benessere dei bambini senza rafforzare lo Status delle donne ? Evidenze empiriche dall’India

by Rossella Tisci

Oltre il Condizionamento del Bisogno. Il Basic Income per una società giusta

by Emanuele Murra

Beyond Being Conditioned by need
MA Thesis

Thanks in large part to the work of Philippe Van Parijs and the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a proposal which... more Thanks in large part to the work of Philippe Van Parijs and the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a proposal which brings into question, on one side, the relationship existing between the political and economic institutions, and on the other, the human subject and society has, over the past two decades, taken shape and began to make its way in the public debate.
The proposal is one which, were to be fully implemented, would lead to a profound rethinking of the tasks and role of these institutions, the duties of society towards its members, and the understanding of what and with what means personal dignity should be granted. It is internationally known as the English expression of basic income, variously translated into Italian as income of citizenship, universal minimum income or with the literal basic income.
What I’m proposing to do throughout the following pages is to offer a stimulus for reflection upon the profound dynamics  running through the contemporary world and on the risks inherent in the increasingly uncontested supremacy that the systems of the market and organizational power have over individuals, their lifestyles and their daily choices.
I hope that upon reading, this thesis will highlight the opportunity presented to give new impetus to the extensive - but unfinished - project of human development that began on August 26th 1789 with the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen.

Comment for 'author meets critics: Martha Nussbaum's Creating Capabilities' session at the 2011 Eastern APA meeting

by Ingrid Robeyns

paper to be presented at the 2011 Eastern APA meetings, Washington, December 28, 2011. Comments very welcome; please do not quote without permission.

This paper is a critique of Martha Nussbaum's Creating Capabilities. I argue that the definition/description of the... more This paper is a critique of Martha Nussbaum's Creating Capabilities. I argue that the definition/description of the capabilities approach that Nussbaum provides is too narrow, and too specific, and that more general definitions are available which are more inclusive. In addition, I argue that some of (what Nussbaum argues to be) the five 'essential elements' of the capabilities approach, are not essential, and hence are not 'essential' to the capabilities approach. Finally, I show that not only does Nussbaum's definition exclude existing work done in the capabilities approach, but also does it exclude work that could be developed, by sketching how a capabilitiarian ethical theory would look like.

Respect for Nature: The Capabilities Approach

by Thom Brooks

David Schmidtz offers powerful arguments in favour of a respect for nature over species egalitarianism. While I accept... more David Schmidtz offers powerful arguments in favour of a respect for nature over species egalitarianism. While I accept much of his account, I argue that his understanding of respect may be too thin to perform its proper task. Instead, our use of respect should be grounded in the capabilities approach. This approach offers us a more substantive perspective through which we might best conceive respect. I will begin with an outline of the main argument in favour of respect for nature (and against species egalitarianism). The discussion will then close with how we might better understand respect.

Health and Justice: the Capability to Be Healthy.

by Sridhar Venkatapuram

Global Ethics: Capabilities Approach

by Chad Kleist

Social justice and the philosophical foundations of critical peace education: Exploring Nussbaum, Sen, and Freire

by dale snauwaert

Published in the Journal of Peace Education

The purpose of this paper is to philosophically explore a ‘realization-focused’ capabilities theory of social justice,... more The purpose of this paper is to philosophically explore a ‘realization-focused’ capabilities theory of social justice, as articulated by AmartyaSen and Martha Nussbaum, as foundational to a theory of critical peace education. Paulo Freire’s philosophy of critical pedagogy has had and continues to have a profound influ- ence on the theory and practice of peace education. It is argued that the basic premises of Freire’s philosophy point to a realization-focused theory of justice and can serve as a robust organizing foundation for critical peace education the- ory and practice. This conclusion constitutes a hypothesis that calls for further research.
Keywords: social justice; critical peace education; Nussbaum; Sen; Freire

Why are teachers absent? Utilising the Capability Approach and Critical Realism to investigate teacher performance in Tanzania

by Sharon Tao

Tanzanian teachers have been criticised for a variety of behaviours such as absenteeism, lack of preparation and... more Tanzanian teachers have been criticised for a variety of behaviours such as absenteeism, lack of preparation and rote-teaching. This paper introduces an analytical framework that attempts to unpack and provide causal explanations for these behaviours by locating Capability Approach concepts within a Critical Realist theory of causation. Qualitative data from three primary schools will contextualise this framework and demonstrate how teachers’ criticised practices are often a product of contending with capability constraint. By reframing teacher actions in this way, a more nuanced understanding of teacher performance might be had, which may enhance measures aiming to improve it.