‘Who are the capability theorists?’: a tale of the origins and development of the capability approach

Abstract

This paper offers a history of the capability approach from its origins to its more recent development. Sen himself refused to be defined as the capability theorist and despite this analysis, we will come to understand that Sen played an essential role in this history because he pioneered the approach, but that his role has probably been overestimated by the available literature. Two further ‘main characters’ provided a relevant contribution to the origins and development of the capability approach, namely Walsh and Nussbaum. Finally, this paper considers the two main groups that have developed since the capability approach, the capability approach centred perspective and the capability approach heuristic value perspective, in order to show how they follow these three main characters in their own development of the capability approach.