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    Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
    Unavailable
    Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
    Unavailable
    Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
    Ebook214 pages3 hours

    Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities

    By Martha C. Nussbaum

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha Nussbaum makes a passionate case for the importance of the liberal arts at all levels of education.

    Historically, the humanities have been central to education because they have been seen as essential for creating competent democratic citizens. But recently, Nussbaum argues, thinking about the aims of education has gone disturbingly awry in the United States and abroad. We increasingly treat education as though its primary goal were to teach students to be economically productive rather than to think critically and become knowledgeable and empathetic citizens. This shortsighted focus on profitable skills has eroded our ability to criticize authority, reduced our sympathy with the marginalized and different, and damaged our competence to deal with complex global problems. And the loss of these basic capacities jeopardizes the health of democracies and the hope of a decent world.

    In response to this dire situation, Nussbaum argues that we must resist efforts to reduce education to a tool of the gross national product. Rather, we must work to reconnect education to the humanities in order to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens of their countries and the world.

    Drawing on the stories of troubling--and hopeful--educational developments from around the world, Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateMar 25, 2012
    ISBN9781400842018
    Unavailable
    Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
    Author

    Martha C. Nussbaum

    Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department and the Law School of the University of Chicago. She gave the 2016 Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities and won the 2016 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy. The 2018 Berggruen Prize in Philosophy and Culture, and the 2020 Holberg Prize. These three prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards available in fields not eligible for a Nobel. She has written more than twenty-two books, including Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions; Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice; Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities; and The Monarchy of Fear.

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    Reviews for Not for Profit

    3.5/5

    24 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      It's pathetic that we live in a society that so little values the humanities that scholars like Nussbaum feel compelled to defend them. Nussbaum's defense of the value of the humanities is informed, intelligent, thoughtful, and obvious. She could have summed up her arguments in a lengthy essay rather than a book but the points she repeats are worth repeating.
    • 3/5
      Meh. I mostly agree with what she says, but I found the book unexciting and pointless. Sure the humanities are important, sure they should be emphasized more. Yeah, yeah, yeah.