Capacity vs capability

[Van_Khanh]

Please read:

a. Animals in the zoo have lost the capability to catch food for themselves.
b. Animals in the zoo have lost the capacity to catch food for themselves.

“Capacity” and “capability” are interchangeable in (a) and (b)?If not, what is the difference?

Thanks
K

[Pamela]

Hi, Van Khanh
In my way of thinking capacity deals more with mental activity while capability also includes physical ability but at the same time they can be interchangeable

[Tamara]

Hi

Capability is a certain ability, the quality of being capable, a potential aptitude.

Capacity is the ability to contain, that is: volume or amount that fits in a certain container for example. The maximum amount that something can contain.

“Capacity” can also mean ability but implies that one “contains” (so to speak) the ability to do something.

Example: You have the capacity to succeed.
This suggests a metaphorical space that one has - that could “contain” success - but basically means that one has the potential to succeed - for whatever reason. You could also say “you have the capability to succeed” but that refers more to the physical, mental, or cognitive ability or skill that one has to succeed rather than the idea of an opportunity or chance to succeed.

Tamara

[Alan]

Hi Van Khanh,

Capacity usually means ability to contain and capability usually means ability to perform.

You would say: A concert hall has the capacity to seat 3,000 people. The orchestra has the capability to play a wide range of different overtures.

If you take this interpretation to your examples:

a. Animals in the zoo have lost the capability to catch food for themselves.
b. Animals in the zoo have lost the capacity to catch food for themselves

.

In (a) the suggestion is that the animals have lost their ability (skill) to …
In (b) the suggestion is that the animals have lost the intellectual/thinking capacity (what is literally inside their brains) to …

Alan