M.C. Nussbaum's Capability Approach: Between Normativity and Relativism

Many philosophical ideas of the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum are relevant and widespread in contemporary ethics and political philosophy. The most notorious of her theoretical ideas is her capability approach, designed to achieve basic human capabilities and to ensure respect for human dignity and a minimum level of social justice. The first problem considered in this article is the status of neo-Aristotelian ethics that is usually seen only as a critical theory, not a normative one, and Nussbaum's primary attempt to classify neo-Aristotelians as either anti-Utilitarians or anti-Kantians. Despite this differentiation in her one article, there is no such distinction in her further works. The second problem in question is a reconstruction of the Aristotelian approach of virtues in the Nussbaumian interpretation and her attempt to combine it with two types of her capability approach - the basic and the global one. The article also focuses on whether the capability approach is normative or relativistic, and its critique.