本文採用沈恩(Amartya K. Sen)的「能力方法」來研究生活品質這一主題。 人的一生可用他的所作所為(doing)和扮演的角色(being)加以描述，兩者即構成他的生活狀態。能力(capability)則是指個人在政經、社會與自然等大環境的制約條件下，嘗試各種努力，所可能達到的各種不同的生活狀態組合而成的集合體。 評估生活品質，有兩個依據：其一是能力集合的大小；其二是能否自主選擇。能力集合愈大，可供選擇的生活狀態愈多，生活品質就愈高。另一方面，還要能自主地選擇自認為有價值、有意義的生活。 生活品質的核心和創造者在於個人。能力集合之拓展，即生活品質的提升；除了有賴於個人的努力、家庭的教養、學校的啟迪外，他所參與的團體、工作的企業以及社會、國家建構的典章制度，都有相當程度的影響力。團體能影響成員的選擇和價值觀，企業對社會責任的回應，會影響其員工和受惠民眾的能力發展。社會與國家在制度層面的安排與保障，能夠排除不利於能力發展的因素，而讓個人潛能得以充分發揮，帶來較高品質的生活。

The topic of quality of life set out in this paper adopts the concepts in ”The Capability Approach” of Amartya K. Sen. A person's life can be described by one's doings (things one does) and one's beings (roles one takes), both of which constitute the state of the person's life. A person's capability refers to the set of the alternative combinations of states of life that are feasible for one to achieve under the constraints of political, economic, social and natural environments. There are two bases for the assessment of quality of life: One is the size of the capability set. The other is whether one can choose autonomously. The larger the size of the capability set, the more the states of life one can choose, the higher the quality of life a person has. On the other hand, it is also important that one can autonomously choose the state of life which a person evaluates as valuable and meaningful. The origin and also the creator of the quality of life is the individual. The expansion of the capability set is equivalent to the improvement of the quality of life. In addition to individual efforts, family upbringing and school inspiration, some other factors are necessary in order to expand the capability set. The groups one participates in can influence one's values and choices. The corporate social responsibility of enterprises will help the capability development of the general public. Arrangements and guarantees at the institutional and national level can help rule out the factors that are not conducive to capability development and allow individuals to develop their potentials freely and thus, bring about a higher quality of life.