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Foreword: Martha Nussbaum and her Critics

Goldstein, Laurence (2007) Foreword: Martha Nussbaum and her Critics. In: The Ethics and Politics of Compassion and Capabilities; lectures by Martha Nussbaum. Hochelaga Lectures 2005 . Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, vii-xix. ISBN 9879889746940. (KAR id:9161)

Abstract

It is to Professor Martha Nussbaum’s credit that she recognises that more is demanded of a serious moral philosopher than to be merely a passive and dispassionate analyst. In her Hochelaga lectures, building upon much previous work, she constructs a moral framework designed to be of practical use in the project of improving humankind. She aims, as she puts it, to ‘supply definite and useful guidance’. In this foreword, I sketch Nussbaum’s line of argument and some of the criticisms made by the four respondents to her lectures. Nussbaum’s ‘capabilities’ approach is advertised as an improvement on views espoused by John Rawls and Amartya Sen, but, I argue, when it comes to hard cases, Nussbaum fails to grasp the nettle.

Item Type: Book section
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Laurence Goldstein
Date Deposited: 05 Aug 2008 09:33 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:47 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/9161 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Goldstein, Laurence.

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