An important distinction among abilities is between general and specific abilities, sometimes also referred to as global and local abilities. General abilities concern what agents can do generally, i.e. independent of the situation they find themselves in. But abilities often depend for their execution on various conditions that have to be fulfilled in the given circumstances. In this sense, the term "specific ability" is used to describe whether an agent has an ability in a specific situation. So while an expert piano player always has the general ability to play various piano pieces, they lack the corresponding specific ability if they are chained to a wall, if no piano is present or if they are heavily drugged. In such cases, some of the necessary conditions for using the ability are not met. While this example illustrates a case of a general ability without a specific ability, the converse is also possible. Even though most people lack the general ability to jump 2 meters high, they may possess the specific ability to do so when they find themselves on a trampoline. The reason that they lack this general ability is that they would fail to execute it in most circumstances. It would be necessary to succeed in a suitable proportion of the relevant cases for having the general ability as well, as would be the case for a high jump athlete in this example.
