This week, we share some quotes from a selection of publications written by Martha Nussbaum, an American philosopher who has particular interest in existentialism, feminism, and ethics.
“You should care about things in a way that makes it a possibility that tragedy will happen to you.”
The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy
Knowledge is no guarantee of good behavior, but ignorance is a virtual guarantee of bad behavior.
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
“We might say that there can be pity in its full-fledged form only where there is also mercy for self: for the self engulfed by a sense of its own utter blackness can never win through to a sufficient recognition of the sorrows of the other as other.”
On Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell and Our Future
Play teaches people to be capable of living with others without control; it connects the experiences of vulnerability and surprise to curiosity and wonder, rather than to crippling anxiety.
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
“The presence of the other, which can be very threatening, becomes, in play, a delightful source of curiosity, and this curiosity contributes toward the development of healthy attitudes in friendship, love, and, later, political life.”
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
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