Capability Creates Ability

Sen's idea of development is one that requires sources of unfreedom to be destroyed; sources of "unfreedom" such as: poverty, tyranny, poor economic opportunities, systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities, intolerance and overactivity of repressive states.(1) On the cover of the book is a picture of the world which in itself creates a sense of unity among all countries big or small and all people regardless of race or gender. Therefore, a few pages into the book, the reader's values of humanity are challenged to search for ways to be help catalyze the destruction of unfreedoms whether they are down the street or across continents.

The parable about Annpurna and her friends provides an interesting segway into Sen's introduction of capability. When trying to decide which of her friends to give the job, Annapurna looks for the person who most needs the job. It turns out that all three of her friends need the job for different reasons that would all be economically sound choices. Different philosophies are called into action--libertarianism and utilitarianism--but in order to measure inequality one cannot only look to leveling income gaps in an effort of equalization. Think about the battle lost for want of a nail...no matter how trivial it may be in the space of incomes or expenditures, that nail made a big difference. (84) In this situation Annapurna should look for the person who will, given the job, provide the least perpetuation of disparaties among the friend group/community. For instance, when trying to destroy the source of unfreedom provided by a lack of knowledge, build a school in the community that is most uneducated and also located where is can be accessible to the most people. Therefore, when you are trying to inspire development in a community, you are not inspiring development that will perpetuate inequality but instead inspire development for the entire country. You are not building a school in south but the north of Brazil. While reading this chapter one cannot help but to think of Parsons' model. Talcott Parsons is a 20th century economist who developed the model of the nuclear family. The current trend in Western societies toward men and women sharing similar occupations, responsibilities and jobs suggests that the sex one is born with does not directly determine one's abilities. However, there are differences in average capabilities of various kinds (physical strength) between the sexes, the capabilities of some members of one sex will fall within the range of capabilities needed for tasks conventionally assigned to the other sex. If you give a man a fish he will eat for a day but if you teach him to fish he will be fed for a lifetime. Provide a person/community with the capability for greatness and they have the ability to overcome sources of unfreedoms.