Key Idea: Nussbaum asks how we should measure whether a society lets people live well. Her answer: not by wealth or average income, but by what each person is actually able to do and to be — their capabilities. Each person is an end in themselves, never just a means to a bigger total. You study the book in full. Master this text and you have a ready-made answer for Paper 2 — a 25-mark, open-book essay on this one book, where you sit the exam with a clean copy of the text beside you.
🧠 The four moves, one card each
Text 10.6 at a glance
- 10.6.1 · The capabilities approach — How do you tell if a country is doing well? Not by wealth: high average income can hide people who are hungry, unschooled or unfree. The right measure is what each person is genuinely able to do and to be. And each person counts as an end — never averaged away as a means to a national total.
- 10.6.2 · The ten central capabilities — Nussbaum lists what a decent human life actually needs: life; bodily health; bodily integrity; senses, imagination and thought; emotions; practical reason; affiliation; other species; play; control over one's environment. Practical reason and affiliation hold the rest together — they organise a genuinely human life.
- 10.6.3 · Capability vs functioning, and dignity — A functioning is actually doing something (eating well); a capability is being able to (having real access to food). Aim at capability, not functioning, so people keep the freedom to choose — the state secures the option, not the outcome. The whole approach rests on human dignity.
- 10.6.4 · A theory of justice? — Nussbaum offers a dignity-based minimum every person is owed, and defends it against rivals (like measuring only wealth or preferences). Two hard objections: adaptive preferences (people trained to want too little) and the worry that a fixed list is too Western or paternalistic — which she answers by keeping it open and politically justified.
Nussbaum's key move is to change the measuring stick. Ask not 'how rich is this society?' but 'what is each person actually able to do and to be?' — and treat every single person as an end. Grasp that shift from wealth to real freedoms, held together by dignity, and the whole book falls into place.
✍️ Bring it together — a Paper 2 question
Evaluate Nussbaum's claim that a just society should be judged by the real capabilities of each person, rather than by its overall wealth. [25]
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
📖 Using your text in the open-book exam
Using your text in the open-book exam
- Bring a CLEAN copy — IB rule: the copy of Creating Capabilities you take in must be un-annotated — no notes in the margins, no underlining, no highlighting. A marked-up copy can be refused, so revise from a separate set of notes and take a clean text into the room.
- Know the map — Memorise where each move lives — the case against wealth as a measure, the ten-capability list, the capability-vs-functioning distinction and dignity, and the replies to rivals and objections — so you can turn to it in seconds. Make your own separate study notes as you learn; you can't write in the exam copy.
- Quote to evidence, then EVALUATE — Open-book means you can cite the text precisely to back a point — do it, but never just summarise. A short accurate reference then your own critical judgement earns marks; page after page of retelling does not.
- Plan then write — A quick argument map — position, support, objection, reply, verdict — beats flipping through pages mid-essay. Note the one or two passages you'll quote, then write. Watch the clock: the book is a resource, not a script.
Important: Just listing the ten capabilities instead of evaluating the argument — or misusing the open text by copying it out. Reciting the list with no judgement earns few marks. State Nussbaum's claim accurately AND weigh it — raise the 'too Western / paternalistic' objection, give her open-list and capability-vs-functioning replies, and reach a reasoned verdict.
✅ Check yourself
If you can answer these six, you have the spine of the whole text.
What is the capabilities approach? Judging how well a society lets people live by what each person is actually able to do and be, rather than by its wealth or average income.
Why is wealth the wrong measure? A high average can hide people who are hungry, unschooled or unfree. Averages conceal the very individuals justice should protect.
Name the two 'architectural' capabilities. Practical reason and affiliation — they hold the rest of the list together and make a life genuinely human.
Capability vs functioning? A functioning is actually doing something; a capability is being able to. Nussbaum aims at capability so people keep the freedom to choose.
What is the adaptive-preferences problem? People trained by hardship to want too little — so asking what they 'prefer' understates injustice. Capabilities look at what they can do, not just what they've learned to accept.
Is a fixed list too paternalistic? The worry it imposes one culture's idea of the good life. Nussbaum replies the list is open, revisable and secures freedoms (capability), not outcomes.
Exam tips
- Paper 2 is a 25-mark essay on THIS text — an accurate account of Nussbaum's argument plus your own evaluation, in balance.
- Lead with the shift from wealth to capabilities and 'each person as an end'; the list and the theory of justice both hang off it.
- The objection examiners reward most is 'too Western / paternalistic' — raise it, then give her open-list and capability-vs-functioning replies.
- Never just list the ten capabilities: judge whether capabilities really beat wealth as a measure of justice, and end on a reasoned verdict.