Full Idea
The capabilities approach grounds rights claims in bare human birth and minimal agency, not in rationality or any other specific property, something that permits it to recognise the equal human rights of people with cognitive disabilities.
Gist of Idea
Capabilities are grounded in bare humanity and agency; qualifying as rational is not needed
Source
Martha Nussbaum (Creating Capabilities [2011], 3)
A Reaction
She says elsewhere that she also sees animals as included in the capabilities approach. This is a rejection of the Kantian grounds for rights (by a well-known Aristotelian).
Book Reference
Nussbaum,Martha C.: 'Creating Capabilities' [Belknap Harvard 2013], p.63
Related Idea
Idea 21019 Social contracts assume equal powers among the participants [Nussbaum]