Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities

Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities - Paperback

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Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
  • Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities - Paperback

Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities - Paperback

by Martha C. Nussbaum
$20.47
$20.47

Book Overview

A passionate defense of the humanities from one of today's foremost public intellectuals

In this short and powerful book, celebrated philosopher Martha C. 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, productive, and empathetic individuals. 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.

Translated into twenty-five languages, Not for Profit draws on the stories of troubling--and hopeful--global educational developments. Nussbaum offers a manifesto that should be a rallying cry for anyone who cares about the deepest purposes of education.
ISBN9780691264394
Author Martha C. Nussbaum
PublisherPrinceton University Press
GenreEducation
FormatPaperback
PublishedDecember 2024
LanguageENG- English
Pages200
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

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About Martha C. Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in Law, Philosophy, and Divinity. Her many books include Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law; Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education; Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership; and Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality.

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