Capability Egalitarianism and Moral Selfhood

Abstract

Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum advocate that a person’s quality of life and equal standing in society should be evaluated in terms of capabilities rather than utility, income or resources. In this article, I critically examine the concept of the person that underpins the capability approach. I argue that the ideal of equality of capability articulates a ‘nonutilitarian’ and ‘non-liberal’ view of the self.