Some thoughts on Nussbaum's Ten Central Human Capabilities

by Nisheeth Yadav

I will try to argue that the nature of application of Nussbaum's capabilties seems to be possible only in a snapshot of time. In other words, it is probable that application of rules based on Nussbaum's capabilities over a sufficiently large period of time may lead to contradictions.

Nussbaum's capabilties focus over different spheres of the societal life, namely political, cultural and economic, in order to provide freedom and dignity to the individual in these areas. These are, without doubt, worthy goals. But these yardsticks may not be mutually compatible in the long run. This is because, given a sufficiently large time horizon, the political, economic and cultural spheres start influencing each other's composition due to their mutual interaction. The definition of capabilties need further fortification to withstand this flux.

Control over One's Environment vs Affiliation:

Nussbaum considers ability to hold property and having property rights as a central human capability. As has been discussed by numerous scholars and witnessed in many examples, a society with private property rights will get divided among property-owning and property-less classes. Such a society can readily provide circumstances for humiliation and loss of dignity.

Changing conception of religious duties:

Nussbaum mentions freedom for religious obersvance and events. It seems non-confrontational because today religious rituals are largely limited to activities which do not pose threat to life or bodily health of others. In the past, however, religious duties have involved inflicting pain on other groups. With the dynamic definition of religious observance and rituals, religious freedom should not be an absolute human capability.

I fully appreciate Nussbaum's contention that this list is not exhaustive, and in this spirit I submit that we need to further fine-tune the list of capabilites with an eye on long term perspective.