Plenary Life and Capabilities Providing

This chapter aims to discuss the subtle concept of plenary life, in connection (either causal, structural, or functional) with the concept of capability. After a propaedeutically excursion into sensation, perception, conceptualization, and reasoning, the three (Popper) worlds are evoked to ground the next analyses. Regarding the polar concept of plenary life, the chapter introduces four layers (the pyramid of layers) at which the life realization can be performed, which is then put into a logical correspondence with the well-known Maslow’s pyramid (pyramid of needs), extracting from this correspondence the conclusions for the concept of plenary life. Based on these findings, a new pyramid is introduced (pyramid of life realization), so that, eventually, a triad formed by the three pyramids is put into a logical model that implies three arrows at the societal level: of life realization, of required need, and of social stratification. Further, the compatible dyads, as well as triads, are extracted, based on which the concept of life chain (pathPath) is built up in achieving the plenary life. In this matter, the chapter develops a very detailed logical formalization. The second main topic of the chapter—the concept of capabilities in life realizing—is examined by appealing to the philosophers who discussed such theme: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Hillary Putnam, Amartya Sen, and Martha C. Nussbaum. Further, the logical foundations of the theory of capabilities are identified and examined, and a general structure of a theory of capabilities is proposed and interpreted. Starting from its structure, the functions of the theory of capabilities are established and discussed, together with a critical assessment of such a theory, regarding, especially, the sources of capabilities and the typology of capabilities. Finally, the chapter approaches the issue of connections between the life chain and the provision of capabilities, so establishing the fundamental chain of life realization, namely the realization of plenary life by the intermediation of capabilities providing.