Traditionally, the state of persons has been described either by means of how richly they are endowed with means for achieving their ends, or by means of how happy or fulfilled they are. Sen criticized the former, opulence-focused approach for its commodity-fetishist bias; he also criticized the latter, utility-focusedapproach for the reason that considerations of feasibility enter into what we are pained not to obtain, and what we can expect to obtain may involve compromises with a harsh reality. Sen’s capability approach was introduced so as to be free from these defects in the informational bases of normative economics. This chapter is meant to highlight the crucial features of this approach. We contend that it is an attempt to build a coherent framework of the realization-focused assessment approach to human well-being, freedom and equality. It is concerned not with the characterization and implementation of the first-best allocation of resources, but with the identification of the channels through which the suboptimal allocation of resources can be improved without violating freedom and dignity of persons. It is founded on the non-consequentialinformational basis, as it assigns a crucial role to the intrinsicvalue of the freedom of choice within each person’s capability.