[The capabilities approach to welfare (with Martha Nussbaum) — Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg — Overcast](https://overcast.fm/+kgCBYpJ78) tl;dr: This podcast discusses the capabilities approach, developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, which focuses on measuring well-being based on an individual's ability to do and value things, rather than income and wealth alone, and how this extends to animal welfare and ethical treatment. The capabilities approach aims to establish non-negotiable thresholds in different areas, like health, education, and freedom of expression, that allow individuals to flourish. This theory can also be applied to the ethical treatment of animals, acknowledging their unique characteristics, needs, and sentience. Education plays a crucial role in fostering awareness and promoting responsible treatment of animals, including combating issues like factory farming and habitat destruction. The podcast also discusses philosopher Lori Gruen's book "Entangled Empathy," which calls for a shift away from a utilitarian approach to animal ethics and towards recognizing their individuality and rights, emphasizing empathy and horizontal variety. Martha Nussbaum critiques other theories, such as Daniel Kahneman's research on happiness and John Rawls' treatment of women, while highlighting the importance of objective accounts of genuine goods and the value of criticism in the field of philosophy. Notes: - The capabilities approach measures how well people are doing by looking at what people are actually able to do and value, rather than just income and wealth or utility. - The approach was developed by Amartya Sen and extended by Martha Nussbaum into a theory of justice. - A just society gives people a wide variety of capabilities in different areas, including life, bodily health, bodily integrity, the use of senses, imagination and thought, practical reason and choice, affiliation and friendship, social relationships, good relationships with other species, play and leisure time, and various forms of control over material and social life. - The capabilities approach is a reaction to measuring success by gross domestic product per capita or the satisfaction of preferences. - When there are trade-offs between capabilities, Nussbaum's theory of minimal justice sets non-negotiable thresholds for each of the 10 capabilities. Societies must establish those thresholds and ensure people remain above them. - When a society falls beneath a threshold for a capability, it is unjust, and the priority becomes getting back to the minimum level for that capability. - Thresholds are set by the people in each nation, taking account of local and regional differences in resources and abilities. - Education is becoming more important for employment opportunities, with high school education now the bare minimum, and college education increasingly necessary. - The capabilities approach aims to ensure that individuals have the freedom to choose to do what they value up to a threshold level. - Each individual capability is necessary for human flourishing, including things like health, education, and freedom of expression. - The capabilities approach differs from utilitarianism in that it acknowledges that different capabilities can't be reduced to a single currency or unit. - The list of 10 capabilities is not comprehensive and can be adapted to fit individual species, such as elephants, to ensure their flourishing. - The same approach can be applied to animals affected in nature by human pollution and those in factory farms, with the goal being to allow them to choose to exercise their characteristic activities up to a reasonable threshold level. - Societies must establish minimum thresholds for each capability and work to ensure individuals remain above them. - Education is becoming increasingly important, with high school now the bare minimum and college education increasingly necessary for employment. - Sentience, the ability to perceive and feel subjectively, is a key dividing line in nature when it comes to defining injustice. - What constitutes wrongful blocking of a being's striving to get what it wants is blocking the striving of a sentient being, which includes all vertebrates and some invertebrates, but not plants. - Different species have different characteristic activities, and it is important to offer a living situation that allows animals to engage in those activities up to a reasonable threshold to avoid wrongful obstruction. - For example, zoos can be unethical for some large predatory animals and marine mammals but fine for other smaller animals such as parrots. - Humans must work to minimize pollution and other forms of interference that can negatively affect all kinds of animals in nature. - Education, especially at the college level, is becoming increasingly important in fostering awareness of the proper treatment of animals. - The animal welfare issue is one that most people are implicated in every day. - Animal welfare is important for climate change and decency. - Men and women have to change their own lives to improve animal welfare. - The factory farming industry has passed laws in most states that prevent people from divulging conditions in the factory farming industry. - Individuals should work on welfare issues on their level. - If stem cell-grown meat becomes cost-competitive, it can cause a massive turning point in society where everyone would look back and say it's so unethical to mistreat an animal and put them in a factory farm. - Wild animals could live difficult, painful lives which is something that's debated. - Humans must work to minimize pollution and other forms of interference that can negatively affect all kinds of animals in nature. - Education, especially at the college level, is becoming increasingly important in fostering awareness of the proper treatment of animals. - Anthropocentric approach in animal law is based on the ladder of nature where humans are at the top and animals are graded according to their perceived closeness to humans. - This approach is flawed because animals should not be graded on a vertical scale but on their unique characteristics and horizontal variety. - Humans must recognize and minimize their impact on animal habitats to the extent that is feasible. - Education is important to develop awareness and techniques for the proper treatment of animals. - Factory farming is unethical and must be reevaluated. - There is debate over whether wild animals in large spaces live difficult, painful lives. - Some animals, like dolphins, have unique abilities that humans do not possess, such as echolocation. - The podcast discusses the book "Entangled Empathy" by philosopher and ethicist Lori Gruen. - Gruen believes that humans need to have empathy for animals and recognize their individuality and uniqueness. - She argues that animals should not be treated as objects or property, but as individuals with rights. - Gruen also critiques the utilitarian approach to animal ethics, which values the overall amount of pleasure or suffering in a given situation over individual experiences. - She believes that animals should be treated based on their unique characteristics and horizontal variety, rather than graded on a vertical scale. - Education is important to develop awareness and techniques for the proper treatment of animals. - The podcast also covers topics such as the ethics of factory farming and the debate over the welfare of wild animals in large spaces. - Martha Nussbaum discusses her philosophy of happiness and how it incorporates choice and genuine goods. - Nussbaum critiques Daniel Kahneman's research on happiness and emphasizes the importance of an objective account of what parts of life should have genuine goods for a flourishing life. - Nussbaum also talks about her willingness to challenge high-prestige people in philosophy and her belief in the value of criticism and challenge in the field. - Nussbaum discusses her respect for the work of John Rawls, but also critiques his treatment of women and his reliance on income and wealth as a proxy for measuring well-being. - Gruen discusses her critique of the utilitarian approach to animal ethics and emphasizes the importance of addressing animals based on their unique characteristics and horizontal variety. - Education is identified as an important factor in promoting awareness and proper treatment of animals. - The podcast also covers the ethics of factory farming and the debate over the welfare of wild animals in large spaces.