Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach Research Articles

An Evaluation of Leylâ in Leylâ ve Mecnûn in Light of Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach

İnsanlık tarihi boyunca insanın insanca yaşaması, insanlık onuru ve eşit bir hayata sahip olması felsefeciler arasında önemli konulardan biri olmuştur. Aristoteles ile başlayan bu düşünceler Stoacılar ile devam etmiş, çağdaş felsefecilerden Martha C. Nussbaum'un "Yapabilirlik Yaklaşımı" ile daha da geliştirilerek tanımlı bir hâle gelmiştir. İnsanın yapabilir olduğu şeylerin belirlenmesi ve insanlara buna göre daha eşit bir hayat düzeni oluşturulması bu yaklaşımın en önemli temelidir. Özellikle insan onuruna uygun ve eşit bir hayat sürmekten uzak olan kadınlar Martha C. Nussbaum'un çalışma alanlarına girmektedir. Türk edebiyatının en önemli eserinden olan Leylâ ve Mecnûn mesnevileri tüm dünyada bilinen bir eser olup bir kadın ile erkeğin ayrılıkla sonuçlanan aşkını anlatmaktadır. Yalnızca bir aşkı anlatmakla kalmayan bu hikâye, ana kahramanlarından olan Leylâ'nın hayatını da bize aktarması yönüyle kıymetlidir. Bu çalışmada Leylâ'dan hareketle yüzyıllardan beri kadınların yaşadıkları eşitsizlikleri, değersizlikleri, yok sayılmayı ve adaletsizlikleri Nussbaum'un da yaklaşımı ile ortaya koymak amaçlanmıştır. Leylâ'dan hareketle insanlık tarihinde irade koyma ve seçme hakkından uzak tutulan kadınların hâli, edebiyat ve felsefe çalışmalarının ortaklığında ifade edilecektir.

Barriers to inclusive education under occupation: An evaluative approach using Nussbaum's capabilities approach

The research explores how teachers and mothers experienced inclusion for children and young people with disabilities in schools and vocational centers in the West Bank, Palestine. We used semi-structured interviews with four teachers in a mainstream and special needs setting, a focus group with 11 vocational instructors, and focus group discussions with two parental (all mothers) support groups attached to a school and vocational centre. The questions were concerned with resources, training and development, and the possibilities for inclusion. The findings revealed the challenges of inclusion in contexts of scare resources, inadequate qualifications and professional development, stigma and shame associated with disability, within a context of conflict and annexation. The analysis is informed by the Capabilities Approach and evaluates the barriers to inclusion and the impact on wellbeing against the ten central capabilities of that approach. The primary conclusions are that capability achievement is very difficult to achieve in conditions of systemic and structural injustice and inequality, despite teachers’ and mothers’ strivings for meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities in schools and centres, and in the wider community where negative prejudicial stereotypes about disability prevail.

Capabilities approach and the marxist interpretation of the political conception of justice. reflections on the after-war restoration of Ukraine

Marxism as a normative position is critical of liberalism. However, the problems of justice and alienation that Marxism draws attention to can be solved by liberalism without the implementation of a Marxist political project. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the thesis that Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach (one of the versions of political liberalism) is a more inclusive and rational method of theorizing about the basic principles of justice than Marxism. By analyzing Elizabeth Anderson's theory of liberal egalitarianism "democratic equality", I show that some of Marxist approaches that (1) do not deny the existence of justice and (2) are concerned with the problem of alienation, can apply the arsenal of the moral theory of political liberalism to solve these problems. I also criticize Rawls's and Nussbaum's theories of political liberalism for their procedural vagueness and non-inclusive theory of justice. I present an outline of my position, which I propose to call «extended political liberalism» (hereafter EPL). EPL is currently represented by two arguments: 1) the paideia argument and 2) the argument of the interdependence of the good and the right. The first allows talking about the actual implementation of basic rights and freedoms only when citizens are aware of them and have the opportunity to change their views regarding the personal conception of the good. This is impossible without qualitative basic education. Also, one of the central concepts of EPL is presented within the framework of Paideia's argument - the interpretation of the political conception of justice. Because of this concept, it makes sense to talk about the possibility of citizens' reflection on the reconciliation of the current political conception with the personal conception of the good. This can also be done through the analysis of other conceptions of the good. The second argument is a continuation of the first, appearing as a theoretical mechanism that allows supplementing the existing political conception in case of serious social changes. In conclusion, if we take into account the advantages of the capabilities approach and my criticism of its weaknesses, then a theoretical position will emerge that is quite acceptable to some representatives of Marxism. Moreover, the latter will not have to give up their basic beliefs. The peculiarity of my concept presented in this text is that it is not so much a critique of Marxism as an analysis of the basic normative judgments of political liberalism, with which some Marxists can agree. With this article, I also want to illustrate the strengths of such a concept and point to its prospects for further attempts to interpret the political conception by other normative positions.

Reciprocity, Vulnerability, and the Moral Significance of Herd Immunity

ABSTRACTThis article proposes a novel defense of vaccine mandates: such policies are justifiable because they protect the capabilities of individuals who cannot cultivate individual immunity against infection. We begin by considering a nearby argument that has recently enjoyed popularity, which claims individuals have an enforceable obligation to get vaccinated because they have benefited from community protection (often referred to as ‘herd immunity’), and thus they ought to do their fair share in sustaining that public good by getting vaccinated. We object, however, that this kind of argument misstates the ethical basis for vaccine mandates because community protection primarily protects unvaccinated people. We contend that the duty to vaccinate is not fundamentally an obligation to make a fair contribution to a public good from which vaccinated people benefit, but a duty to protect the wellbeing of otherwise vulnerable third parties. We flesh out our view by drawing on Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach.

‘Do know harm’: Examining the intersecting capabilities of young people from refugee backgrounds through community sport and leisure programmes

Young people from refugee backgrounds have been repeatedly denied the ability to lead a life that they value. Community sport and leisure has been positioned as a tool to foster positive wellbeing experiences for these young people living in Western resettlement countries. Drawing on qualitative data from a Participatory Action Research project in London, England, we apply Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach to examine how the young people made sense of and negotiated their interconnecting capabilities through the sport and leisure programme. We examine three key interconnections between the capabilities of (a) life, bodily health and play; (b) affiliation and emotion and (c) bodily integrity and control over the environment. The findings are significant in ensuring sport and leisure provides opportunities for young people from refugee backgrounds to engage in positive wellbeing experiences and for enabling them and those supporting them to know and challenge harmful practices that may restrict capabilities.

An Exploration of the Educational Experiences of Refugee Children

This study examines the educational experiences of refugee children in European nations, primarily Germany. Refugee numbers have reached an all-time high, and the education of refugee children has always been a challenge in host countries. Since education plays a crucial role in refugee children's cultural and social integration, it is imperative to examine their educational experiences. This study focuses on Germany through a review of the relevant literature. This study analyzes the education background of Germany in relation to refugee children's educational difficulties. It incorporates Nussbaum's Capability Approach theory to conclude that host countries within the European Union should ensure that refugee children receive an adequate education by implementing comprehensive long-term coping mechanisms and policies.

‘It's about what I'm able to do’: Using the capabilities approach to understand the relationship between quality of life and vascular access in patients with end-stage kidney failure

Prevalence rates of End-Stage Kidney Failure (ESKF) have risen in across the world in recent years, making it one of the most common chronic illnesses. The main treatment for ESKF is haemodialysis, where one is ‘connected’ to a dialysis machine to clean and filter the blood via a surgically-created portal, also known as ‘vascular access’. Without functioning vascular access, dialysis is impossible. People with ESKF have different experiences with their access modalities, but universally describe their access point as a ‘lifeline’. Previous research has emphasised the impact it can have on wellbeing (Kalloo et al., 2016; Casey et al., 2014; Quinn et al., 2008), and specifically on short- and long-term outcomes.Capturing Quality of Life (QoL) within ESKF populations has traditionally focused upon assessing wellbeing from an objective, normative, top-down stance, rather than appreciating the nuanced effect vascular access can have as experienced by those living with kidney failure. In this article, we argue current QoL measures used with ESKF groups are insufficient at capturing the impact of vascular access on wellbeing. Using the accounts of twenty-four haemodialysis patients, we share insights into the direct and indirect influences vascular access has upon QoL, using Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach as an analytical lens. By prioritising and privileging the voices of those directly affected, the Vascular Access Specific Quality of Life (VA Specific-QOL) model provides a starting point for a more representative way to assess wellbeing in this group.

Mixed impacts of protected areas and a cash crop boom on human well‐being in North‐Eastern Madagascar

Abstract Tropical forest frontier areas support the well‐being of local populations in myriad ways. Not only do they provide the material basis for people's livelihoods, they also sustain socio‐cultural foundations through relational values. They host some of the most biodiverse ecosystems and largest carbon stocks on the planet, and are thus a focus of global conservation efforts. They are also a prime location for the production of many global agricultural commodities. These dynamics—often intertwined—may trap local populations between powerful interests, with the potential to affect their well‐being. We conducted 100 structured interviews in four biodiversity‐rich landscapes of north‐eastern Madagascar to investigate how multi‐dimensional human well‐being is affected by the recent establishment of protected areas and surge in cash crop prices. We asked households about their satisfaction—and changes in satisfaction—with locally relevant well‐being components, mapping their answers through Nussbaum's Central Capabilities approach. We also investigated the cultural significance of key natural resources beyond the material benefits they provide. All issues were explored along four variables: site, main source of rice, gender and household land use portfolio. Our findings are as follows: first, human capabilities are interconnected and mutually interdependent, with relational values linking many of them. Second, subjective accounts of well‐being are influenced by cognitive biases, such as treadmill effects, adaptive preferences and recency bias. Third, while households perceived a positive influence of protected areas, those most reliant on forest land and products held a more negative view of conservation interventions. And fourth, while households more engaged in commercial agriculture may be benefitting economically from the recent increase in cash crop prices, these very dynamics might be leading to trade‐offs between capabilities. This is most notably so for the Bodily Health capability (e.g. greater spending on housing) and Affiliation and Bodily Integrity (i.e. worsening social relations and security). These insights highlight the importance of addressing the multiple dimensions of well‐being when assessing the impacts of conservation and economic dynamics in forest frontier populations. Particular attention should be paid to the relational values ascribed to the natural resources the communities rely on. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Çocuk Evliliklerinde Yapabilirlik Yaklaşımının Uygulanması: Türkiye Örneği

Restriction of freedoms emerges as an important human development problem in Turkey as well as in the rest of the world. This problem also hinders people’s access to other capabilities, particularly if basic 'capabilities' such as education, health and income, which are important for the development of girls as individuals, cannot be achieved and lead to the ineffective use of developmental inputs by girls. From this point of view, in this study, the problem of child marriage is discussed in the context of talent approach due to the importance of the given situation both in Turkey and the world. Starting from the case of child marriage, the causes and consequences of this problem are boldly emphasized. In addition, within the framework of Nussbaum's capability approach, it is pointed out that in traditionally patriarchal societies, women's capacity was seen as less valuable and limited compared to men. This situation, therefore, might cause gender inequality. The capability approach provides a distinctive framework suggesting that justice in a society should be assessed based on people’s ability to achieve what they have reason to value. Based on perspective, it proposes that the analysing an individuals’ welfare should not be limited to what he or she has as a resource, but what she or he can do and be with this resource since resources are only instruments to achieve ends, or valuable beings and doings. In this study, gender inequality was tried to be highlighted through the interviews which have been done with child brides in the context of the capability approach. Finally, it is emphasized how the capability approach can be applied to the problem of child marriages and suggestions are presented.

New insights on the persistence and reproduction of educational inequality and injustice: Towards a synthesis of Nussbaum's capabilities approach and Bourdieu's theories

Education is one of the most powerful means by which to advance equality, equity, and justice, yet it is also one of the most powerful mechanisms by which inequality, inequity and injustice are reproduced. Although academics have developed various ways for understanding these phenomena, the dichotomy between agency and structuralism persists, and is often regulated by people's capabilities ‘to do and to be’, and the social and psychological constraints on agency. These shortcomings have stimulated us to reconsider their interactions. The aim is to explore how we may more insightfully understand the mechanisms that reproduce injustice and inequality in education by bringing together sociology and normative philosophy using Martha Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach and the theories of Pierre Bourdieu.

The Relevance of Martha C. Nussbaum's Human Rights Capabilities Approach for Today's Psychoanalytic Inquiry.

The Relevance of Martha C. Nussbaum's Human Rights Capabilities Approach for Today's Psychoanalytic Inquiry.

Protestant working ethics and the spirit of feminism: A critique of Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach

Protestant working ethics and the spirit of feminism: A critique of Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach

How Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach Values the Environment: Extrinsically But as an End?

ABSTRACT How Nussbaum’s capabilities approach engages with non-human nature is a topic of growing interest, though such work tends to focus on Nussbaum’s proposal to expand her approach to conceive of the flourishing of non-human animals. Less explored but still worth investigating is how her approach, insofar as it applies to humans, relates to the environment. I consequently ask, what kind of value does Nussbaum’s approach, as a conception of human flourishing, ascribe to the natural environment? Though widely assumed to value the natural environment instrumentally, I argue that it is instead plausible, and perhaps even more in keeping with certain commitments of the approach, to see it as valuing the environment extrinsically but as an end. I focus on Nussbaum’s eighth capability, “Other Species,” which refers to living with concern for and in relation to the world of nature, and argue that the value attributed to the environment by this capability may be extrinsically located, but should not be assumed to only be instrumental. By using Christine Korsgaard’s work on distinguishing between different kinds of valuing, I suggest a new way to understand how Nussbaum’s approach values the environment that has not been defended at length before.

The Other Species Capability & the Power of Wonder

ABSTRACT I argue that the Other Species Capability (OSC) in Martha Nussbaum's Capability Approach deserves a more central place in our thinking about human capability than has often been thought. In order to do so, I explain how the OSC protects the human power of biocentric wonder, which in turn has a power that is architectonic in some ways even to capabilities such as Practical Reason and Affiliation. The bulk of the paper explains the main history surrounding the OSC, what biocentric wonder is, why it should relate to an expanded understanding of freedom, and how these things relate to self-reflection and our capacity for moral regard. Our capacity to relate to other species ought to be seen as central to our ability to come to terms with who we are and to grasp moral regard for each other.

Understanding travel and differential capabilities and functionings in Beijing

The social impacts of transport systems and new transport infrastructure have often been overlooked and undervalued, partly because the relationship between transport and social equity is indirect and difficult to quantify. Researchers have usefully investigated the relationship between transport and social exclusion, focusing on aspects such as access to opportunities and activities by different population cohorts such as income, class, age, ethnicity and gender. The analysis has focused on addressing the imbalance in the distributional effects of transport provision and accessibility planning has often been a central tool in analysis. This paper seeks to build on the aforementioned research, employing Amartya Sen's Capabilities Approach as a theoretical framework to explore how an individual's capabilities and functionings differ in relation to transport. Beijing is used as a case study, with analysis from three stations on the Beijing subway line 1 and its extension to the Batong line, namely Guomao, Sihui and Tuqiao. Martha Nussbaum's Central Human Capabilities Approach is used to frame the analysis. The results show that functionings and capabilities differ according to an individual's socio-economic characteristics and geographical location, meaning that both the opportunities to participate in life and also the actual activities themselves differ. This is an important distinction that the Capabilities Approach offers, and it is useful to consider if the potential for achieving improved social equity is to be realised.

Austerity in reverse: Korea, capabilities, and crisis

ABSTRACTDevelopment is austerity in reverse. And austerity is development in reverse, a form of de-development. This paper argues that austerity is a neoliberal technology for returning countries to positive economic growth that reduces social spending and thereby reverses development. Drawing on Sen and Nussbaum's human capabilities approach, an exploration of Korea's development since 1960 supports this and three additional claims. First, the expansion of capabilities in Korea is tied to democratization and exponential increases in social spending. Second, Korea's experience with financial crises and austerity programmes demonstrate that increased social spending is compatible with rapid recovery. Third, Korea's roll out of neoliberal technologies and economic transformation since the 1980s have undermined the capabilities developed during earlier industrialization. Fourth, the importance of housing as a vital tool for political legitimation, especially since democratization, has sustained political interest in providing better housing, suggesting that social movements are essential to protecting social spending.

Human capabilities in advanced dementia: Nussbaum's approach.

To explore how Martha Nussbaum's approach to human capabilities can apply to dignity in the lives of people with advanced dementia living in nursing homes. Challenges experienced when supporting people with advanced dementia who express problematic behaviours include understanding their needs and ensuring a dignified life for them. Data were gathered using an ethnographic approach based on participatory observation. Nussbaum's capability approach was then used as a framework for the analysis. Four women diagnosed with advanced dementia who also expressed problematic behaviours were recruited from a nursing home in Northern Sweden. The data collection was performed during 2015. Individuals with advanced dementia had difficulties in participating in the planning of their lives and achieving the human capability of practical reasoning. They were also at risk of being placed outside the social group, thus hindering them from attaining the human capability of affiliation. A dignified life for individuals with advanced dementia requires nursing staff to be present and to provide adapted support to ensure that the individual can actually pursue human capabilities. Creating opportunities for the human capabilities of practical reasoning and affiliation is essential as they permeate all other human capabilities. For these individuals, it was crucial not only to create opportunities for human capabilities but also to attend to their expressions and needs and to guide and steer them towards a dignified life. The normative structure of the capability approach described by Nussbaum can ensure that nursing staffs move beyond fulfilling patients' basic needs to consider other capabilities vital for a dignified life.

Recognition and Redistribution: Finding Common Ground between Two Conceptions of Freedom

Today, critical theory is marked by a conflict between two competing theories; these theories are recognition based theories of freedom and theories that equate justice with the notion of just distribution. The recognition paradigm argues that there are sources of oppression and exploitation that have less to do with material differences, and more to do with how people relate to each other in a social context, or even the attitudes that institutions can adopt towards certain groups of people (Cordelli, 2015, p.679; Honneth, 2012, pp.37-38; Schemmel, 2012, p.123; Young, 1999, p.417). Honneth's recognition theory, for example, advocates for the subordination of distributive justice to recognition concerns, making it a 'dependent variable in relations of recognition' and treating intersubjectivity as the primary means for promoting freedom (Honneth, 2012, p.46). That is, maldistribution ought to be considered a symptom of misrecognition or disrespect rather than being a primary cause for social injustice. This approach, however, is criticized as being an overly simplistic and one-sided account of morality that reduces justice claims to feelings of recognition and disrespect (Fraser, 2001; Lazzeri, 2009; Thompson, 2006; McNay, 2008; Zambrana, 2013, Zurn, 2005). For example, Fraser (Fraser and Honneth, 2003, pp.22-37) argues that a politics of recognition, centering on the concern of self-realization, is a reductive account of social justice that wrongfully equates morality to cultural concerns and psychological harm.Honneth (2014) attempts to shore up his theory by explicating how moral norms, and freedom itself, are embedded within and dependent upon social relations through a reconstruction of Hegel's three social spheres of action: relationships, markets, and the state. However, Honneth's theory of recognition still remains vague in terms of outlining a satisfying approach for dealing with the issue of distributive justice. Even if we accept that Honneth has successfully made the case that a theory of recognition is necessary for understanding social demands for distributive politics and their normative justification, it is still not sufficient in terms of dealing with a variety of distributive justice claims. As we will see, Zurn (2005) demonstrates that this deficiency in Honneth's theory is not easily remedied due to complications in Honneth's attempt to classify distributive justice claims as ultimately being recognition claims. However, if we are convinced of the necessity of a theory of recognition to explain and justify redistributive politics, then what is needed for a more complete theory of freedom is an account of distributive justice that at the same time embodies and addresses recognition needs. I propose, as one possible solution to this problem, supplementing Honneth's theory of recognition with an account of distributive justice that simultaneously addresses the recognition requirements for ethical life and freedom. The two supplements that I propose are drawn from Nussbaum's capability approach and Pettit's theory of non-domination. My aim in this article is to demonstrate how combining these two approaches is one example of how specific policies for distributive justice can be closely imbricated, even mutually reinforcing, with Honneth's border criteria of justification through mutually recognized social norms.1First, it will be argued that while Nussbaum's capabilities approach is decidedly a program for political action, it is not only sensitive to the diversity of conceptions of the good life held by individuals, but emphasizes the dignity and respect for individuals, and the importance of individual self-realization in underwriting free choice. It will also be shown that increasing opportunities for intersubjective recognition is necessary for the development of what Nussbaum calls her list of central capabilities, the capabilities a person needs in order to be counted free.2 The highlighting of various institutional provisions for the promotion of people's capacity to make meaningful political choices, what Nussbaum refers to as a positive conception of liberty, offers a distributive program of justice that can also address recognition needs identified by Honneth. …

Developing intercultural learning in Australian pre-service teachers through participating in a short term mobility program in Malaysia

This study investigates the intercultural learning of 10 Australian pre-service teachers participating in a short term mobility program in Malaysia. Drawing on Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach, intercultural learning is conceptualised as developing three capabilities: critical cultural self-examination; affiliation with and towards others; and building narrative imagination. Our findings confirmed that participation in this structured mobility experience promoted critical professional self-awareness regarding cultural diversity; built trust and intercultural understanding through intensive interaction with Malaysian peers; and developed participants as more culturally responsive teachers. We recommend that a structured short term mobility experience be embedded within teacher education programs.

Foundations of Human Rights: Metaphysics, Essentialism, and Intuitionism

AbstractThis article addresses the philosophical foundations of human rights without recourse to religion or metaphysics. It begins with the requirements of a non-religious theory of human rights and then discusses Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach. Because her account relies on intuition to play a major role, this article compares two intuitionists, Johannes Morsink and David Little, whose works address the moral intuitionism of those who drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as the foundations of human rights more generally. It argues that Little's rational intuitionism represents the best possible intuitionist defense of human rights, yet there are important questions of moral growth and attention to context it must answer going forward.