Business leaders love the humanities because they know that to innovate you need more than rote knowledge. You need a trained imagination.
Martha C. NussbaumAs we tell stories about the lives of others, we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events. At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves.
Martha C. NussbaumDisgust relies on moral obtuseness. It is possible to view another human being as a slimy slug or a piece of revolting trash only if one has never made a serious good-faith attempt to see the world through that personโs eyes or to experience that personโs feelings. Disgust imputes to the other a subhuman nature. How, by contrast, do we ever become able to see one another as human? Only through the exercise of imagination.
Martha C. NussbaumPeople have a deep need to be legislators, and the idea of autonomy has become very precious.
Martha C. NussbaumToday, I think, the state of philosophizing about democracy is very healthy. It bridges political science and philosophy, as it should.
Martha C. NussbaumWe are lucky in the United States to have our liberal arts system. In most countries, if you go to university, you have to decide for all English literature or no literature, all philosophy or no philosophy. But we have a system that is one part general education and one part specialization. If your parents say you've got to major in computer science, you can do that. But you can also take general education courses in the humanities, and usually you have to.
Martha C. Nussbaum