Integrating Human, Social, and Sustainable Development: An Integrative Approach to Realizing the Goals that Social Action Aims to Achieve

In other words, the major centers of civilization regard socio-political philosophy as a prescription for human development (i.e., developing the capabilities of individuals and enabling them to realize desired functionings) and social development. Capabilities are defined as qualities that enable individuals to convert primary social goods into the value “ends” that enable them to live well. Developing capabilities provides substantive freedom to choose a life one has reason to value, as well as the ability to realize desired functionings, as Amartya Kumar Sen puts it. Functionings are the states of being that enable people to live with dignity or the substantive opportunity to achieve the things they value doing or being.