Martha Nussbaum

“To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control... That says something very important about the condition of the ethical life: that it is based on a trust in the uncertain and on a willingness to be exposed...” Martha Nussbaum 

Martha Nussbaum is a world-famous philosopher with a particular focus on ethics, classical philosophy, politics and feminism. Nussbaum is a Distinguished Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago and has been awarded honorary degrees from sixty-three universities colleges across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.  

Nussbaum’s moral philosophy emphasises the importance of the emotions and argues that story-telling enables humans to develop empathy. As such story-telling is a necessary part of a just society. Nussbaum has written an incredible number of books including, The Fragility of Goodness (1986), Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (2001) and The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal (2019). Her book, Citadels of Pride: Sexual Abuse, Accountability, and Reconciliation will be published in 2021. Nussbaum is currently writing a book about justice for non-human animals. 

The Financial Times has called Nussbaum, ‘One of the world’s most celebrated moral philosophers.’ Time Magazine called her, ‘Philosophy’s action woman.’