The Capability Approach

Abstract

In Chap. 2 I anticipated a use of “freedoms” in the sense of freedoms that may or may not underlie human rights; a language that is particularly connected with the capability approach. The purpose of this chapter is to consider the core ideas of the capability approach, looking forward in order to connect it to the outcomes obtained up to now and to use this double theoretical approach to read privacy and data protection issues in a world of ambient intelligence. I will do this through a review of the literature on the capability approach in order to situate it and present its central concepts and distinctions, in a parallel exploratory route. This exploration will be followed by a reconnection with my main interests, through an examination of the relationship between the capability approach, human rights and technology. In this chapter I respond to two of my sub-questions: “Is a technological version of the capability approach envisageable?” and “Does the capability approach provide added value to the theory of human rights and/or contribute to their promotion?” For now, I call to mind that the attention paid by the capability approach to the effective realization of freedoms – rather than merely to their formal recognition – motivates my choice in exploring this path.