Capability approach to freedom: A philosophical compendium

As a normative approach, capability approach has been developed as a new multidisciplinary framework for pondering about well-being, development and justice. Freedom has been regarded by the capability approach thinkers as the most important element of human well-being. And the attainment of the well-being is to be measured in terms of the actualization of the capabilities of people. By capabilities they mean the freedom or opportunities to achieve the various states of “beings and doings” that a person can engage in. In traditional philosophy freedom has been perceived as a state of being unconstrained by the erratic will of other individuals or authority. In this article, a very brief attempt will be made to understand the extent to which the capability approach could enrich our general understanding of freedom; what are its philosophical underpinnings and also the normative implications--- questions like these will be addressed briefly. While doing so I shall also try to discuss the key concepts and principles of capability approach and the role they have played in development policy and reasoning. The contribution of capability approach in understanding human development discourses is immense. This approach has urged that the idea of human development must include people‘s freedom of choice.