capabilities approach
kay-pah-BIL-ih-teez ah-PROHCH
ˌkeɪpəˈbɪlɪtiz əˈproʊtʃListen
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a framework for evaluating human wellbeing and social justice developed by Amartya Sen and elaborated by Martha Nussbaum, which holds that the appropriate metric of justice is not utility or primary goods but rather the real capabilities — substantive freedoms or opportunities — that individuals have to live lives they have reason to value; Nussbaum's version specifies a threshold list of ten central human capabilities including life, health, bodily integrity, affiliation, and political control, which constitute a basis for constitutional guarantees
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