Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    A functioning is not equivalent to a capability, because ... — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    A functioning is not equivalent to a capability, because a person may possess a capability without exercising it

    Moral ResponsibilityRights & Liberty
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Functionings are capabilities that have been achieved, whether voluntarily or by chance
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.A person may have the real freedom to vote but choose not to do so
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A person who chooses not to vote has the capability of voting but not the functioning of voting
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.For beings whose agency is constitutively social, the distinction between capability and functioning collapses when social conditions make non-exercise impossible to distinguish from incapacity.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Marx's analysis of alienated labor shows that workers 'possess' formal capabilities (to quit, to negotiate) that are practically indistinguishable from unfreedom due to structural coercion.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.A capability that cannot be exercised without catastrophic cost to the agent is functionally equivalent to its absence, making the capability/functioning distinction a liberal idealization.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Aristotle's account of hexis (stable disposition) entails that a capability not regularly exercised degrades and ceases to be a genuine capability, collapsing the distinction over time.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If capabilities require ongoing cultivation and practice to remain real options—as virtue ethics holds—then persistent non-exercise transforms a capability into a merely nominal one.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Sign in or register to share your perspective on this statement.

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.

    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityRights & Liberty

    Related

    A capability that cannot be exercised without catastrophic cost to the agent is ...A person may have the real freedom to vote but choose not to do soA person who chooses not to vote has the capability of voting but not the functi...Aristotle's account of hexis (stable disposition) entails that a capability not ...
    +4 moreShow less
    For beings whose agency is constitutively social, the distinction between capabi...Functionings are capabilities that have been achieved, whether voluntarily or by...If capabilities require ongoing cultivation and practice to remain real options—...Marx's analysis of alienated labor shows that workers 'possess' formal capabilit...

    Similar

    Some capabilities are available to a person only if other people do no...81%When a capability's realizability depends on others' choices, the capa...77%The capability approach requires a comprehensive or holistic assessmen...76%Performing an act at some possible world is not necessary for having t...76%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: capability-approach
    View source passageHide passage
    Real freedom in this sense means that one has all the required means necessary to achieve that doing and being if one wishes to. That is, it is not merely the formal freedom to do or be something, but the substantial opportunity to achieve it. Someone might, for example, have the formal freedom to vote in elections in the sense that she has the right to do so and that no one will stop her from doing so, but she might lack the substantial possibility to vote because the closest voting station is
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit