I'm not sure what advantages capabilitarianism confers over preference utilitarianism + revealed preferences? According to the latter, you can tell that owning a yacht is less important than having food, since given a choice between having a yacht and starving versus having no yacht and not starving, most people would choose the latter.
One way to think about capabilitarianism (or so I think) is 'hard-coding' some amount of "preference utilitarianism + revealed preferences" as something like 'deontology'.
And I find that's a good way to think of some kind of compatibility between utilitarianism and deontology (and virtue ethics) too – as something like a (far more practical) approximation or 'hard-coded' set of (nearly) universal preferences, or capabilities.
It doesn't seem (obviously) terrible to create and maintain a (small) set of 'universal preferences and capabilities, at least practically. Preferring NOT to be murdered is one great candidate. Having access to at least a basic education is a good candidate capability. Prohibiting slavery seems very similar, even if, in some cases, some people still might reasonably choose slavery over some other (extremely terrible) possible outcomes.
I'm not sure what advantages capabilitarianism confers over preference utilitarianism + revealed preferences? According to the latter, you can tell that owning a yacht is less important than having food, since given a choice between having a yacht and starving versus having no yacht and not starving, most people would choose the latter.
One way to think about capabilitarianism (or so I think) is 'hard-coding' some amount of "preference utilitarianism + revealed preferences" as something like 'deontology'.
And I find that's a good way to think of some kind of compatibility between utilitarianism and deontology (and virtue ethics) too – as something like a (far more practical) approximation or 'hard-coded' set of (nearly) universal preferences, or capabilities.
It doesn't seem (obviously) terrible to create and maintain a (small) set of 'universal preferences and capabilities, at least practically. Preferring NOT to be murdered is one great candidate. Having access to at least a basic education is a good candidate capability. Prohibiting slavery seems very similar, even if, in some cases, some people still might reasonably choose slavery over some other (extremely terrible) possible outcomes.
Ah, I have missed the Ozy book reviews. My poor wallet though, as I buy them all...