Ensuring flourishing for all seems a long shot in the face of an eco-social crisis. To reduce developmental injustices, some thinkers have suggested seeking an “equality of human capabilities”. This book challenges this socio-political invitation by exploring the concept of “counter-capability”.
First, it discusses the background of cultural and historical meaning that may operate beneath a presumed individual capability. Second, it contextualises how some conflicts between capabilities arise in ecologically degraded environments dominated by the meat industry, critically analysing freedoms such as being healthy, being well nourished or consuming resources. And third, the adequacy of a theory of eco-social justice focused on recognition and the roles of domination exercised over human and non-human capabilities is contemplated.
The latter leads to exploring the promise of a “synergetic flourishing” that challenges individualism, anthropocentrism and short-termism. Without this thoughtful revision of our lifestyles and consumption, the drive to equalise human capabilities may lead to the collapse of the biological and moral foundations for just flourishing.
This book argues for the importance of caring for the interdependent relationships that, sometimes invisibly, intertwine us all.