We, in virtue of our sociability and plasticity, are especially open to altering and developing our capacities and abilities, thereby expanding the scope of available affordances. The distinctively dynamic and extensive nature of abilities for human beings, however, raises questions concerning the ontology of affordances, given their relativity to abilities, their being relative to abilities. These questions are particularly pressing since much of the power of the concept comes from the claim that affordances are real, that they exist in some sense.
Resolution of these issues, I suggest, involves taking the temporal dimension of abilities and affordances seriously, particularly in terms of interaction across multiple temporal scales. Such a temporal perspective encompasses the modulating role of motivation, as well as questions concerning the presence and salience of affordances. I end by addressing abilities as they extend into, and are extended by, social interaction and coordination, and introduce the notion of joint affordances specifically, in contrast to the sociality of affordances more generally.