Turning Capabilities into Functionings: Practical Reason as an Activation Factor

Practical reasoning is central to the capabilities approach. This paper sets out a new account of the role of practical reasoning in capability. Practical reasoning involves the development and evolution of an individual’s conception of the good—the kind of life she values and has reason to value. It is developed through socialization, and is subject to background social conditioning that may be empowering or constraining. As such, practical reasoning can be a subjective constraint on capability. This paper introduces a distinction between a person’s objective capability set and her effective capability set. Objective capabilities are determined by a configuration of commodities and conversion factors at the individual, social and environmental levels. Practical reasoning guides the act of choice that determines which element of the objective capability set will be actualized; effective capabilities are the real opportunities available to a person, given the filtering effects of her mode of practical reasoning. Practical reason can be conceptualized as an “Activation Factor” that mediates between hypothetical capability and achieved functioning. The paper concludes that practical reasoning deserves particular attention in social evaluations in the capability space: acknowledging the role of practical reasoning can help to illuminate gaps between freedom in principle and real positive freedom.