Abstract

The author argues that Sen’s capability approach is primarily a philosophical under-labouring exercise aimed at elaborating certain central economic categories, and that the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of Sen’s approach are radically different from those of contemporary welfare economics and mainstream economic practice. Sen’s notion of ‘capabilities ’ as the potential functionings to achieve well-being is interpreted here as a specification of the ontological category of ‘causal power’, presupposing an open system conception of reality that contrasts with much of contemporary economic practice.