  In response to this problem, Sen has introduced the idea of ‘basic capabilities’, understood as ‘the ability to satisfy certain elementary and crucially important functionings up to certain levels’ (Sen 1992, 45), for use in definitions of global poverty. In this case the basic needs approach and the capabilities approach will converge, since identifying these ‘crucially important functionings’ will involve the same exercise as identifying universal human needs, namely establishing what is necessary for human beings to enjoy a minimally decent life.  It is a mistake, therefore, to imagine that by switching from needs to capabilities one can avoid the difficult semi-empirical task of establishing what conditions are essential to human beings if they are to avoid being harmed.