Following Amartya Sen, this paper contends that the capability
approach provides a better framework for thinking about human
well-being and development than more traditional approaches
which typically focus on utility or resources. This is illustrated by
drawing on the results of a survey which investigated how ordinary
people in South Africa view human well-being (a ‘good’ form of
life). However, the results of this exercise indicate that the capability
approach overlaps with both utility (happiness, pleasure, etc) and
resource-based concepts of well-being. The distinctions between
commodities (and their characteristics), human functioning and
utility is less robust than Sen implies. In particular, the capability
approach needs to make more space for the role of utility (defined
broadly to include all valuable mental states) and say more about
the material basis of well-being