Jonathan Wolff and Avner De-Shalit
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199278268
- eISBN:
- 9780191707902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278268.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? ...
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This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? Beginning with a list offered by Martha Nussbaum, and Sen's capability approach, the concepts of capability and functionings are further analysed, using the method of ‘dynamic public reflective equilibrium’. This involves a dialogue between the philosopher and the public, in this case a series of interviews with disadvantaged people and with professionals who take care of disadvantaged people in a variety of fields. The result is that while basically Nussbaum's list is shown to be intuitive, four additional categories are suggested. Thus, a new list of functionings is devised as part of the task of setting out a particular pluralist account of disadvantage.Less
This chapter deepens the discussion of the nature of disadvantage by asking: what categories of functionings exhaust those necessary to construct a full philosophical theory of disadvantage? Beginning with a list offered by Martha Nussbaum, and Sen's capability approach, the concepts of capability and functionings are further analysed, using the method of ‘dynamic public reflective equilibrium’. This involves a dialogue between the philosopher and the public, in this case a series of interviews with disadvantaged people and with professionals who take care of disadvantaged people in a variety of fields. The result is that while basically Nussbaum's list is shown to be intuitive, four additional categories are suggested. Thus, a new list of functionings is devised as part of the task of setting out a particular pluralist account of disadvantage.
Monique Deveaux
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199289790
- eISBN:
- 9780191711022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199289790.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter considers how human rights perspectives understand the gender/culture tension and the kinds of normative and practical solutions that they offer. In addition to discussing writing by ...
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This chapter considers how human rights perspectives understand the gender/culture tension and the kinds of normative and practical solutions that they offer. In addition to discussing writing by feminist human rights scholars, it considers the work of philosopher Martha Nussbaum, who focuses on women’s capabilities for well-being, as well as the work of philosopher Onora O’Neill, who argues that we need to attend to the circumstances and capacities that women need if they are to genuinely give their consent to cultural practices and arrangements.Less
This chapter considers how human rights perspectives understand the gender/culture tension and the kinds of normative and practical solutions that they offer. In addition to discussing writing by feminist human rights scholars, it considers the work of philosopher Martha Nussbaum, who focuses on women’s capabilities for well-being, as well as the work of philosopher Onora O’Neill, who argues that we need to attend to the circumstances and capacities that women need if they are to genuinely give their consent to cultural practices and arrangements.
Jonathan Wolff and Avner de-Shalit
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199278268
- eISBN:
- 9780191707902
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278268.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
What does it mean to be disadvantaged? Is it possible to compare different disadvantages? What should governments do to move their societies in the direction of equality, where equality is to be ...
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What does it mean to be disadvantaged? Is it possible to compare different disadvantages? What should governments do to move their societies in the direction of equality, where equality is to be understood both in distributional and social terms? Linking analytical philosophical theory with broad empirical studies, including interviews conducted for the purpose of this book, it is shown how taking theory and practice together is essential if the theory is to be rich enough to be applied to the real world, and policy systematic enough to have purpose and justification. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 presents a pluralist analysis of disadvantage, modifying the capability theory of Sen and Nussbaum to produce the ‘genuine opportunity for secure functioning’ view. This emphasizes risk and insecurity as a central component of disadvantage. Part 2 shows how to identify the least advantaged in society even on a pluralist view. It is suggested that disadvantage ‘clusters’ in the sense that some people are disadvantaged in several different respects. Thus, it is not necessary to solve the problem of how to weigh different categories of disadvantage against each other in order to identify the least advantaged. Conversely, a society which has ‘declustered disadvantaged’ — in the sense that no group lacks secure functioning on a range of functionings — has made considerable progress in the direction of equality. Part 3 explores how to decluster disadvantage, by paying special attention to ‘corrosive disadvantages’ — those disadvantages that cause further disadvantages, and ‘fertile functionings’ — those which are likely to secure other functionings.Less
What does it mean to be disadvantaged? Is it possible to compare different disadvantages? What should governments do to move their societies in the direction of equality, where equality is to be understood both in distributional and social terms? Linking analytical philosophical theory with broad empirical studies, including interviews conducted for the purpose of this book, it is shown how taking theory and practice together is essential if the theory is to be rich enough to be applied to the real world, and policy systematic enough to have purpose and justification. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 presents a pluralist analysis of disadvantage, modifying the capability theory of Sen and Nussbaum to produce the ‘genuine opportunity for secure functioning’ view. This emphasizes risk and insecurity as a central component of disadvantage. Part 2 shows how to identify the least advantaged in society even on a pluralist view. It is suggested that disadvantage ‘clusters’ in the sense that some people are disadvantaged in several different respects. Thus, it is not necessary to solve the problem of how to weigh different categories of disadvantage against each other in order to identify the least advantaged. Conversely, a society which has ‘declustered disadvantaged’ — in the sense that no group lacks secure functioning on a range of functionings — has made considerable progress in the direction of equality. Part 3 explores how to decluster disadvantage, by paying special attention to ‘corrosive disadvantages’ — those disadvantages that cause further disadvantages, and ‘fertile functionings’ — those which are likely to secure other functionings.
Jeremy Waldron
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199253661
- eISBN:
- 9780191601972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253668.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Jeremy Waldron’s essay centres around Martha Nussbaum’s ideas on cosmopolitan education: Nussbaum argues that we should make ‘world citizenship, rather than democratic or national citizenship, the ...
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Jeremy Waldron’s essay centres around Martha Nussbaum’s ideas on cosmopolitan education: Nussbaum argues that we should make ‘world citizenship, rather than democratic or national citizenship, the focus for civic education’. The essay provides just a few examples to illustrate the concrete particularity of the world community for which we are urged by Nussbaum to take responsibility, with the aim of refuting the view of those who condemn cosmopolitanism as an abstraction. The arguments for and against Nussbaum’s idea (universalism vs particularism) are presented, and one of the opposing views highlighted: that cosmopolitan moral education is not just an education in moral ideas; it is (or ought to be) an education in the particular ways in which people have inhabited the world (rather than the purely local aspects of their inhabiting particular territories). The different sections of the chapter look at how a society becomes multicultural, the infrastructure of cultural interaction, the identification of citizenship (citizenship in relation to civic responsibility, exclusivity, subjection), the language of citizenship, and its concrete reality and its cosmopolitan dimensions.Less
Jeremy Waldron’s essay centres around Martha Nussbaum’s ideas on cosmopolitan education: Nussbaum argues that we should make ‘world citizenship, rather than democratic or national citizenship, the focus for civic education’. The essay provides just a few examples to illustrate the concrete particularity of the world community for which we are urged by Nussbaum to take responsibility, with the aim of refuting the view of those who condemn cosmopolitanism as an abstraction. The arguments for and against Nussbaum’s idea (universalism vs particularism) are presented, and one of the opposing views highlighted: that cosmopolitan moral education is not just an education in moral ideas; it is (or ought to be) an education in the particular ways in which people have inhabited the world (rather than the purely local aspects of their inhabiting particular territories). The different sections of the chapter look at how a society becomes multicultural, the infrastructure of cultural interaction, the identification of citizenship (citizenship in relation to civic responsibility, exclusivity, subjection), the language of citizenship, and its concrete reality and its cosmopolitan dimensions.
Sabina Alkire
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245796
- eISBN:
- 9780191600838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245797.003.0002
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. The issue ...
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Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. The issue of this second chapter is how one ‘specifies’ the dimensions of valuable functioning or capability. Martha Nussbaum's work on central human capabilities and John Finnis's work on basic human reasons for action are both presented, and then alternative accounts of universal human needs and values are briefly considered. The theoretical conception of basic human values that has been developed by Finnis is proposed as being a conception that enables and requires participatory dialogue in application, has objective foundations, and can also coherently engage with and be refined by the large and growing empirical literatures on happiness, subjective well‐being, quality of life indicators, and views of the poor—which have not been well‐integrated with poverty reduction approaches. This conception can also mesh well with methodological literatures on participation, and be used by persons with diverse philosophical approaches and opinions. Ends with a table listing the dimensions of human development from 39 different disciplines.Less
Each of the four chapters of Part I of the book synthesizes one aspect that must be specified in the operationalization of the capability approach, then proposes a framework for doing so. The issue of this second chapter is how one ‘specifies’ the dimensions of valuable functioning or capability. Martha Nussbaum's work on central human capabilities and John Finnis's work on basic human reasons for action are both presented, and then alternative accounts of universal human needs and values are briefly considered. The theoretical conception of basic human values that has been developed by Finnis is proposed as being a conception that enables and requires participatory dialogue in application, has objective foundations, and can also coherently engage with and be refined by the large and growing empirical literatures on happiness, subjective well‐being, quality of life indicators, and views of the poor—which have not been well‐integrated with poverty reduction approaches. This conception can also mesh well with methodological literatures on participation, and be used by persons with diverse philosophical approaches and opinions. Ends with a table listing the dimensions of human development from 39 different disciplines.
Martin Puchner
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199730322
- eISBN:
- 9780199852796
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730322.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
The influence of Plato on modern philosophy is immense. Through his dramatic writing, he is a constant reminder of the tangible, the personal, and the concrete. This chapter advocates a way of ...
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The influence of Plato on modern philosophy is immense. Through his dramatic writing, he is a constant reminder of the tangible, the personal, and the concrete. This chapter advocates a way of rethinking Plato in modern times through a discussion of contemporary Platonism. This objective is attained by presenting a number of contemporary philosophers who are self-declared Platonists. This chapter discusses in detail three Platonists that were inclined towards dramatic Platonism: Iris Murdoch and her critique of language philosophy and relativism, Martha Nussbaum and her program that accords intelligence to emotions and envisions the work of emotions as some kind of Platonist ascent, and Alain Badiou and his approach to dramatic Platonism with continental philosophy.Less
The influence of Plato on modern philosophy is immense. Through his dramatic writing, he is a constant reminder of the tangible, the personal, and the concrete. This chapter advocates a way of rethinking Plato in modern times through a discussion of contemporary Platonism. This objective is attained by presenting a number of contemporary philosophers who are self-declared Platonists. This chapter discusses in detail three Platonists that were inclined towards dramatic Platonism: Iris Murdoch and her critique of language philosophy and relativism, Martha Nussbaum and her program that accords intelligence to emotions and envisions the work of emotions as some kind of Platonist ascent, and Alain Badiou and his approach to dramatic Platonism with continental philosophy.
Lawrie Balfour
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195377293
- eISBN:
- 9780199893768
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377293.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While ...
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This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While scholars increasingly appreciate the extent of Du Bois's transnational activism and writing in the mid-20th century, this chapter concentrates on The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade the United States of America, 1638–1870 (1896). It argues that Du Bois's first book, although thoroughly American, nonetheless demonstrates the impossibility of constructing a theory of democracy that restricts its concern within US boundaries. Using a contrast between “black world” and “white nation,” it suggests how a close reading of Suppression in conjunction with Martha Nussbaum's For Love of Country reveals the unacknowledged racial politics of recent appeals to cosmopolitanism, on the one hand, and civic nationalism, on the other.Less
This chapter considers how the worldly orientation of Du Bois's political thought might inform political theory as it turns toward the global. The central text in this case is an unlikely one. While scholars increasingly appreciate the extent of Du Bois's transnational activism and writing in the mid-20th century, this chapter concentrates on The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade the United States of America, 1638–1870 (1896). It argues that Du Bois's first book, although thoroughly American, nonetheless demonstrates the impossibility of constructing a theory of democracy that restricts its concern within US boundaries. Using a contrast between “black world” and “white nation,” it suggests how a close reading of Suppression in conjunction with Martha Nussbaum's For Love of Country reveals the unacknowledged racial politics of recent appeals to cosmopolitanism, on the one hand, and civic nationalism, on the other.
John Wall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195182569
- eISBN:
- 9780199835737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195182561.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and ...
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The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and historical goods. Aristotle and contemporary Aristotelians like Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas show how moral life depends on traditional and social narratives, but they separate the activities of poetics and ethical phronesis and so reduce ethical narrative to something passively received instead of also actively created. Martha Nussbaum draws a closer relation of ethics and poetics through an Aristotelian conception of moral tragedy, but subordinates poetics to an instrumental means toward otherwise fixed moral norms. Paul Ricoeur shows that the narration of goods rests on a poetics of the will in which the self confronts its own freely chosen radical evil by affirming, still more primordially, its passive-active capability or “gift” for narrating the good in the first place. Beyond Ricoeur, a deeper Greek and Aristotelian sense for historical moral tragedy can be introduced into such moral narration by first defining radical evil as the tragic tension of freedom and finitude, and second affirming a still more primordial human capability for rendering this tension productive of ever more radically inclusive historical narration.Less
The simplest (but by no means the only) form in which moral life itself requires creativity lies in the self’s teleological narration, alongside others, of the meaning of biological, social, and historical goods. Aristotle and contemporary Aristotelians like Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas show how moral life depends on traditional and social narratives, but they separate the activities of poetics and ethical phronesis and so reduce ethical narrative to something passively received instead of also actively created. Martha Nussbaum draws a closer relation of ethics and poetics through an Aristotelian conception of moral tragedy, but subordinates poetics to an instrumental means toward otherwise fixed moral norms. Paul Ricoeur shows that the narration of goods rests on a poetics of the will in which the self confronts its own freely chosen radical evil by affirming, still more primordially, its passive-active capability or “gift” for narrating the good in the first place. Beyond Ricoeur, a deeper Greek and Aristotelian sense for historical moral tragedy can be introduced into such moral narration by first defining radical evil as the tragic tension of freedom and finitude, and second affirming a still more primordial human capability for rendering this tension productive of ever more radically inclusive historical narration.
Peter Dula
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195395037
- eISBN:
- 9780199894451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395037.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with ...
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Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with work in political liberalism by Martha Nussbaum and John Rawls. The comparison illuminates how, in Cavell's hands, Emerson and Wittgenstein are both radical democrats whose perfectionism exposes liberal democracy's complacency with regard to its victims.Less
Cavell's two greatest influences, Emerson and Wittgenstein, are often considered either to lack a politics or to reinforce a conservative politics. This chapter places Cavell in conversation with work in political liberalism by Martha Nussbaum and John Rawls. The comparison illuminates how, in Cavell's hands, Emerson and Wittgenstein are both radical democrats whose perfectionism exposes liberal democracy's complacency with regard to its victims.
Joshua Landy
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195188561
- eISBN:
- 9780199949458
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195188561.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
It is often asserted that fictions improve their readers morally, whether (a) by imparting instruction, (b) by eliciting empathy, or (c) by forcibly fine-tuning capacities for navigation through the ...
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It is often asserted that fictions improve their readers morally, whether (a) by imparting instruction, (b) by eliciting empathy, or (c) by forcibly fine-tuning capacities for navigation through the labyrinth of moral life. In reality, however, readers tend—as Chaucer knew—only to “learn” what they already believed going in; empathy is hopelessly unreliable as a guide to virtuous behavior; and fine-tuning, the most promising avenue, is by no means automatic. Moral improvement through fiction thus takes place far less often than is widely imagined. What is more, we should not want wholesale transformation through fiction, since it risks turning humanity at large into a mass of moral wantons. While fine-tuning remains an option under special circumstances, most of us should settle for self-clarification, a morally neutral process that may, after its own manner, prove every bit as salutary.Less
It is often asserted that fictions improve their readers morally, whether (a) by imparting instruction, (b) by eliciting empathy, or (c) by forcibly fine-tuning capacities for navigation through the labyrinth of moral life. In reality, however, readers tend—as Chaucer knew—only to “learn” what they already believed going in; empathy is hopelessly unreliable as a guide to virtuous behavior; and fine-tuning, the most promising avenue, is by no means automatic. Moral improvement through fiction thus takes place far less often than is widely imagined. What is more, we should not want wholesale transformation through fiction, since it risks turning humanity at large into a mass of moral wantons. While fine-tuning remains an option under special circumstances, most of us should settle for self-clarification, a morally neutral process that may, after its own manner, prove every bit as salutary.
Stephen C. Angle
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195385144
- eISBN:
- 9780199869756
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter is organized around challenges from Martha Nussbaum, Karen Stohr, and Diana Myers. Does a commitment to harmony entail an unhealthy desire for consistency and unity in one's life and ...
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This chapter is organized around challenges from Martha Nussbaum, Karen Stohr, and Diana Myers. Does a commitment to harmony entail an unhealthy desire for consistency and unity in one's life and relationships? Along similar lines, can a commitment to harmony be squared with the existence of moral conflicts? Finally, does such a commitment push one toward a state of “emotional vanilla” in which one cannot mount dramatic challenges to the status quo? The chapter argues that a contemporary Neo-Confucian understanding of harmony has the resources to rebut all these concerns. In particular, the role of imagination in overcoming moral conflicts is stressed; this is illustrated through consideration of famous passages concerning potential conflicts from the Mencius. Particular attention is paid to the role of anger. The chapter argues, though, that both classical and Neo-Confucians too often leave grief out of account, even though it can fit well into their picture.Less
This chapter is organized around challenges from Martha Nussbaum, Karen Stohr, and Diana Myers. Does a commitment to harmony entail an unhealthy desire for consistency and unity in one's life and relationships? Along similar lines, can a commitment to harmony be squared with the existence of moral conflicts? Finally, does such a commitment push one toward a state of “emotional vanilla” in which one cannot mount dramatic challenges to the status quo? The chapter argues that a contemporary Neo-Confucian understanding of harmony has the resources to rebut all these concerns. In particular, the role of imagination in overcoming moral conflicts is stressed; this is illustrated through consideration of famous passages concerning potential conflicts from the Mencius. Particular attention is paid to the role of anger. The chapter argues, though, that both classical and Neo-Confucians too often leave grief out of account, even though it can fit well into their picture.
Peter de Marneffe
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383249
- eISBN:
- 9780199870554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383249.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Although some paternalistic government policies are morally wrong, not all are. Even some “hard” paternalistic policies are morally justifiable. This position is consistent with a due respect for ...
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Although some paternalistic government policies are morally wrong, not all are. Even some “hard” paternalistic policies are morally justifiable. This position is consistent with a due respect for individual autonomy. J. S. Mill's arguments in On Liberty fail to provide good reasons to think that all paternalistic prostitution laws are unjustifiable. Recent academic critics of prostitution laws, Lars Ericsson, Martha Nussbaum, and David Richards, fail to give convincing grounds to oppose all paternalistic prostitution laws. The contractualist views of John Rawls and T. M. Scanlon provide no reason to believe that paternalism is always wrong. The cliché that “it is not the government's business to protect us against ourselves” is considered and rejected as a basis for opposing paternalistic prostitution laws.Less
Although some paternalistic government policies are morally wrong, not all are. Even some “hard” paternalistic policies are morally justifiable. This position is consistent with a due respect for individual autonomy. J. S. Mill's arguments in On Liberty fail to provide good reasons to think that all paternalistic prostitution laws are unjustifiable. Recent academic critics of prostitution laws, Lars Ericsson, Martha Nussbaum, and David Richards, fail to give convincing grounds to oppose all paternalistic prostitution laws. The contractualist views of John Rawls and T. M. Scanlon provide no reason to believe that paternalism is always wrong. The cliché that “it is not the government's business to protect us against ourselves” is considered and rejected as a basis for opposing paternalistic prostitution laws.
Martin Puchner
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199730322
- eISBN:
- 9780199852796
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730322.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
Most philosophy has rejected the theater, denouncing it as a place of illusion or moral decay; the theater in turn has rejected philosophy, insisting that drama deals in action, not ideas. ...
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Most philosophy has rejected the theater, denouncing it as a place of illusion or moral decay; the theater in turn has rejected philosophy, insisting that drama deals in action, not ideas. Challenging both views, this book shows that theater and philosophy have always been crucially intertwined. Plato is the presiding genius of this alternative history, not only as a theorist of drama, but also as a dramatist himself, one who developed a dialogue-based dramaturgy that differs markedly from the standard, Aristotelian view of theater. This book discovers scores of dramatic adaptations of Platonic dialogues, the most immediate proof of Plato's hitherto unrecognized influence on theater history. Plato was central to modern drama as well, with figures such as Wilde, Shaw, Pirandello, Brecht, and Stoppard using Plato to create a new drama of ideas. The book also considers complementary developments in philosophy, offering a theatrical history of philosophy that includes Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Burke, Sartre, Camus, and Deleuze. These philosophers use theatrical terms, concepts, and even dramatic techniques in their writings. The book mobilizes this double history of philosophical theater and theatrical philosophy to subject current habits of thought to critical scrutiny. In dialogue with contemporary thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum, Iris Murdoch, and Alain Badiou, the book formulates the contours of a “dramatic Platonism”. This new Platonism does not seek to return to an idealist theory of forms, but it does point beyond the reigning philosophies of the body, of materialism and of cultural relativism.Less
Most philosophy has rejected the theater, denouncing it as a place of illusion or moral decay; the theater in turn has rejected philosophy, insisting that drama deals in action, not ideas. Challenging both views, this book shows that theater and philosophy have always been crucially intertwined. Plato is the presiding genius of this alternative history, not only as a theorist of drama, but also as a dramatist himself, one who developed a dialogue-based dramaturgy that differs markedly from the standard, Aristotelian view of theater. This book discovers scores of dramatic adaptations of Platonic dialogues, the most immediate proof of Plato's hitherto unrecognized influence on theater history. Plato was central to modern drama as well, with figures such as Wilde, Shaw, Pirandello, Brecht, and Stoppard using Plato to create a new drama of ideas. The book also considers complementary developments in philosophy, offering a theatrical history of philosophy that includes Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Burke, Sartre, Camus, and Deleuze. These philosophers use theatrical terms, concepts, and even dramatic techniques in their writings. The book mobilizes this double history of philosophical theater and theatrical philosophy to subject current habits of thought to critical scrutiny. In dialogue with contemporary thinkers such as Martha Nussbaum, Iris Murdoch, and Alain Badiou, the book formulates the contours of a “dramatic Platonism”. This new Platonism does not seek to return to an idealist theory of forms, but it does point beyond the reigning philosophies of the body, of materialism and of cultural relativism.
Joshua Hordern
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646814
- eISBN:
- 9780191744181
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646814.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Religion and Society
Chapter 1 examines the democratic deficit in Europe today and, via discussion of constitutional patriotism, the wisdom of sublimating national identity to a post-national consciousness. To do so, it ...
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Chapter 1 examines the democratic deficit in Europe today and, via discussion of constitutional patriotism, the wisdom of sublimating national identity to a post-national consciousness. To do so, it considers both popular and theoretical uncertainty about the role of emotions in politics, describing the turn to cognitivist theories of emotion in the late twentieth century and exploring both the reasons for the turn and the rationalist and empiricist dualisms which have preceded it. The chapter considers the neo-Stoic, cognitivist political theory of Martha Nussbaum in depth, focussing on her account of compassion as the paradigmatic political emotion in an uncontrolled world. It argues that the role of joy in political life is significantly underplayed by Nussbaum, that her indexing of compassion to the judiciary's wisdom is not a secure basis for a compassionate society and that her account of compassion itself may not have sufficient traction to evoke widespread support.Less
Chapter 1 examines the democratic deficit in Europe today and, via discussion of constitutional patriotism, the wisdom of sublimating national identity to a post-national consciousness. To do so, it considers both popular and theoretical uncertainty about the role of emotions in politics, describing the turn to cognitivist theories of emotion in the late twentieth century and exploring both the reasons for the turn and the rationalist and empiricist dualisms which have preceded it. The chapter considers the neo-Stoic, cognitivist political theory of Martha Nussbaum in depth, focussing on her account of compassion as the paradigmatic political emotion in an uncontrolled world. It argues that the role of joy in political life is significantly underplayed by Nussbaum, that her indexing of compassion to the judiciary's wisdom is not a secure basis for a compassionate society and that her account of compassion itself may not have sufficient traction to evoke widespread support.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0021
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied ...
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This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied accounts: the examples here are principlist bioethics, as in Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress; theorizing about capabilities, as in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum; and liberal individualism. Second, the PVV view can be used as a tool in policy analysis: it can show how some historical policies have overemphasized vectorhood and underemphasized victimhood (for example, the isolation of lepers on Molokai, Hawaii; the quarantine of Chinese for plague in San Francisco; and “Typhoid Mary” and “Patient Zero”); others have overemphasized victimhood and underemphasized vectorhood (for example, the critique of the Tuskeegee syphilis experiments and the HPV immunization campaign). In some, the balance is controversial (HIV/AIDS containment in Cuba; isolation of MRSA patients in modern hospitals); and in some, it appears well-balanced (Canada's exit policy for people with active tuberculosis).Less
This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied accounts: the examples here are principlist bioethics, as in Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress; theorizing about capabilities, as in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum; and liberal individualism. Second, the PVV view can be used as a tool in policy analysis: it can show how some historical policies have overemphasized vectorhood and underemphasized victimhood (for example, the isolation of lepers on Molokai, Hawaii; the quarantine of Chinese for plague in San Francisco; and “Typhoid Mary” and “Patient Zero”); others have overemphasized victimhood and underemphasized vectorhood (for example, the critique of the Tuskeegee syphilis experiments and the HPV immunization campaign). In some, the balance is controversial (HIV/AIDS containment in Cuba; isolation of MRSA patients in modern hospitals); and in some, it appears well-balanced (Canada's exit policy for people with active tuberculosis).
Dorothy J. Hale
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231156172
- eISBN:
- 9780231520775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231156172.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter argues that modern novel that Henry James helped to invent and the tradition of novel theory that he inaugurated provide a foundational aesthetics for the novel that underlies both ...
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This chapter argues that modern novel that Henry James helped to invent and the tradition of novel theory that he inaugurated provide a foundational aesthetics for the novel that underlies both Martha Nussbaum's ethical philosophy and the new ethical theory that has emerged, especially in the past decade, in the attempt to articulate a positive social value of literature for our postmodern age. To mention J. Hillis Miller, Gayatri Spivak, Judith Butler, Derek Attridge, Geoffrey Galt Harpham, and Michael André Bernstein is to invoke some of the most influential contributors to the new ethical defense of literary value. And while these theorists do indeed derive their ethics from diverse political theorists (Foucault, Agamben, Adorno, Benjamin, Levinas, and Derrida), the heterogeneity of these political influences has coalesced in a surprisingly unified account of literary value. For these new ethicists, the ethical value of literature lies in the felt encounter with alterity that it brings to its reader. It is the untheorized understanding of the form of the novel as inherently politicized that establishes a bridge between the poststructuralist ethicists and the “pre-Barthesian” Nussbaum. The development in the twentieth century of a novelistic aesthetics of alterity cannot be adequately explained (away) by the ideological notion of disavowal since the avowal of disavowal is part of what defines it as an aesthetics. The chapter shows how the achievement of alterity is, for both ethical camps, not only taken for granted as the novel's distinctive generic purpose, but understood to be accomplished through novelistic form. It suggests how the aesthetics of alterity derives from James' own acute awareness that the politicized struggle between art and its ideological instrumentality is constitutive of novelistic aesthetics itself.Less
This chapter argues that modern novel that Henry James helped to invent and the tradition of novel theory that he inaugurated provide a foundational aesthetics for the novel that underlies both Martha Nussbaum's ethical philosophy and the new ethical theory that has emerged, especially in the past decade, in the attempt to articulate a positive social value of literature for our postmodern age. To mention J. Hillis Miller, Gayatri Spivak, Judith Butler, Derek Attridge, Geoffrey Galt Harpham, and Michael André Bernstein is to invoke some of the most influential contributors to the new ethical defense of literary value. And while these theorists do indeed derive their ethics from diverse political theorists (Foucault, Agamben, Adorno, Benjamin, Levinas, and Derrida), the heterogeneity of these political influences has coalesced in a surprisingly unified account of literary value. For these new ethicists, the ethical value of literature lies in the felt encounter with alterity that it brings to its reader. It is the untheorized understanding of the form of the novel as inherently politicized that establishes a bridge between the poststructuralist ethicists and the “pre-Barthesian” Nussbaum. The development in the twentieth century of a novelistic aesthetics of alterity cannot be adequately explained (away) by the ideological notion of disavowal since the avowal of disavowal is part of what defines it as an aesthetics. The chapter shows how the achievement of alterity is, for both ethical camps, not only taken for granted as the novel's distinctive generic purpose, but understood to be accomplished through novelistic form. It suggests how the aesthetics of alterity derives from James' own acute awareness that the politicized struggle between art and its ideological instrumentality is constitutive of novelistic aesthetics itself.
Garrett Wallace Brown
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638819
- eISBN:
- 9780748652822
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638819.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter attempts to derive some key normative principles inherent in a Kantian scheme of distributive justice. To do so, this chapter looks at Kant's conception of external freedom and social ...
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This chapter attempts to derive some key normative principles inherent in a Kantian scheme of distributive justice. To do so, this chapter looks at Kant's conception of external freedom and social welfare, relating them to a cosmopolitan concern for global justice. It argues that Kant's freedom of autonomy (co-legislation) demands a robust theory of distributive justice in order to provide a political environment that supports the effective autonomy of individuals in a hypothetical kingdom of ends. The chapter further explores a possible relationship with Martha Nussbaum's capability theory, suggesting that Kant's distributive principles might be best expressed through a form of the capability approach. Lastly, the chapter draws connections between contemporary cosmopolitan arguments for global justice and Kant's overall cosmopolitan concerns.Less
This chapter attempts to derive some key normative principles inherent in a Kantian scheme of distributive justice. To do so, this chapter looks at Kant's conception of external freedom and social welfare, relating them to a cosmopolitan concern for global justice. It argues that Kant's freedom of autonomy (co-legislation) demands a robust theory of distributive justice in order to provide a political environment that supports the effective autonomy of individuals in a hypothetical kingdom of ends. The chapter further explores a possible relationship with Martha Nussbaum's capability theory, suggesting that Kant's distributive principles might be best expressed through a form of the capability approach. Lastly, the chapter draws connections between contemporary cosmopolitan arguments for global justice and Kant's overall cosmopolitan concerns.
Patrick Coleman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199589340
- eISBN:
- 9780191723322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589340.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter examines how entitlements to anger and obligations of gratitude were redefined in eighteenth-century France, a society in which cultural status began to be based on talent rather than ...
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This chapter examines how entitlements to anger and obligations of gratitude were redefined in eighteenth-century France, a society in which cultural status began to be based on talent rather than rank alone. Interpersonal relations also began to be imagined not only in terms of polite reciprocity, of the exchange of favors or gifts, but of equal and impersonal rights. It argues that Enlightenment writers enhanced their cultural status, on the one hand by using their sensitivity to insults or favors as proof that they deserved greater respect; and on the other, by representing themselves as free from emotional dependence on others and therefore as meritorious embodiments of impersonal reason. The argument is grounded in recent work by Martha Nussbaum, William Reddy, Robert Solomon, and others, according to which emotions are more than physiological states and should be understood as cognitive judgments and socialized dispositions.Less
This chapter examines how entitlements to anger and obligations of gratitude were redefined in eighteenth-century France, a society in which cultural status began to be based on talent rather than rank alone. Interpersonal relations also began to be imagined not only in terms of polite reciprocity, of the exchange of favors or gifts, but of equal and impersonal rights. It argues that Enlightenment writers enhanced their cultural status, on the one hand by using their sensitivity to insults or favors as proof that they deserved greater respect; and on the other, by representing themselves as free from emotional dependence on others and therefore as meritorious embodiments of impersonal reason. The argument is grounded in recent work by Martha Nussbaum, William Reddy, Robert Solomon, and others, according to which emotions are more than physiological states and should be understood as cognitive judgments and socialized dispositions.
Brian Leiter
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163543
- eISBN:
- 9781400852345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163543.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The analysis has so far assumed that the moral foundation of the law of religious liberty is to be found in the idea of principled toleration. But are we entitled to that assumption? Martha Nussbaum, ...
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The analysis has so far assumed that the moral foundation of the law of religious liberty is to be found in the idea of principled toleration. But are we entitled to that assumption? Martha Nussbaum, for example, has recently argued for the attitude of “respect” as the moral foundation of religious liberty. However, her account is ambiguous between two senses of respect. In one sense of respect (“minimal” respect), it is compatible with nothing more than toleration of religion; and in a different sense (“affirmative” respect, and which Nussbaum appears to want to invoke), it could not form the moral basis of a legal regime since religion is not the kind of belief system that could warrant that attitude.Less
The analysis has so far assumed that the moral foundation of the law of religious liberty is to be found in the idea of principled toleration. But are we entitled to that assumption? Martha Nussbaum, for example, has recently argued for the attitude of “respect” as the moral foundation of religious liberty. However, her account is ambiguous between two senses of respect. In one sense of respect (“minimal” respect), it is compatible with nothing more than toleration of religion; and in a different sense (“affirmative” respect, and which Nussbaum appears to want to invoke), it could not form the moral basis of a legal regime since religion is not the kind of belief system that could warrant that attitude.
Joshua Hordern
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199646814
- eISBN:
- 9780191744181
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199646814.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Religion and Society
While political experience is clearly replete with affectivity, the affective dimension of politics has typically been under-conceptualised in political theory. This book considers the nature of ...
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While political experience is clearly replete with affectivity, the affective dimension of politics has typically been under-conceptualised in political theory. This book considers the nature of affections such as joy, compassion, sorrow, and shame and the role they play in politics, arguing that affections have a cognitive aptitude whereby they become enduring features of shared political reasoning. The central claim is that Christian political theology and contemporary theory of emotions can shed light on these questions and, in so doing, analyse the democratic deficit which troubles contemporary political life. In conversation with Martha Nussbaum, Jürgen Habermas, Roger Scruton, Oliver O'Donovan, and other political thinkers both classical and contemporary, the book interrelates affections with memory, moral order, death, suffering, virtue, neuroscience, familial life, national identity, and constitutional patriotism. In contrast to dualisms which separate reason from affection and theology from politics, affections' role in politics is explored through examining the eschatological commitments of political thought. Through close attention to Deuteronomy, Luke and Acts, the book considers the role of affections in institutions of political representation, law, and healthcare. Over against post-national visions which underplay locality in human identity, the account of political affectivity which emerges suggests that civic participation, critical patriotic loyalties, social trust and international concern will be primarily galvanised by the renewal of local affections through effective political representation. The book concludes by describing the vocation of churches to embody the joyful, hopeful life of the Kingdom of God and so bring renewal to contemporary political experience.Less
While political experience is clearly replete with affectivity, the affective dimension of politics has typically been under-conceptualised in political theory. This book considers the nature of affections such as joy, compassion, sorrow, and shame and the role they play in politics, arguing that affections have a cognitive aptitude whereby they become enduring features of shared political reasoning. The central claim is that Christian political theology and contemporary theory of emotions can shed light on these questions and, in so doing, analyse the democratic deficit which troubles contemporary political life. In conversation with Martha Nussbaum, Jürgen Habermas, Roger Scruton, Oliver O'Donovan, and other political thinkers both classical and contemporary, the book interrelates affections with memory, moral order, death, suffering, virtue, neuroscience, familial life, national identity, and constitutional patriotism. In contrast to dualisms which separate reason from affection and theology from politics, affections' role in politics is explored through examining the eschatological commitments of political thought. Through close attention to Deuteronomy, Luke and Acts, the book considers the role of affections in institutions of political representation, law, and healthcare. Over against post-national visions which underplay locality in human identity, the account of political affectivity which emerges suggests that civic participation, critical patriotic loyalties, social trust and international concern will be primarily galvanised by the renewal of local affections through effective political representation. The book concludes by describing the vocation of churches to embody the joyful, hopeful life of the Kingdom of God and so bring renewal to contemporary political experience.
