Abstract

Today social functioning is a key concept in the theories of human well-being, in political theory, in social and moral philosophy, in social work etc. The paper’s focus is on three paradigmatic interpretations of social functioning: that overtaken from H. Bartlett’s the theory of social roles, Sen’s version of social functioning with its concept of capabilities, and M. Nussbaum’s description of different forms of social functioning with regard to specific groups, first of all the disabled people. Different interpretations have different practical consequences in resolving complex social pathological problems such as poverty, unemployment as well as in interpreting social ideals of liberty, law and justice