Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice - Softcover

Martha C. Nussbaum

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674503805 ISBN 13: 9780674503809

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2015

Synopsis

Martha Nussbaum asks: How can we sustain a decent society that aspires to justice and inspires sacrifice for the common good? Amid negative emotions endemic even to good societies, public emotions rooted in love--intense attachments outside our control--can foster commitment to shared goals and keep at bay the forces of disgust and envy.

About this title

Review:

"There's no more interesting or persuasive writer on the wider and connected subjects of emotions and social justice than Martha Nussbaum...Here, she draws on aesthetics as well as philosophy to make her point. The fundamental message of the book is that without love political justice is empty of content...It's a great book...and goes straight on the shelf beside John Rawls. Political morality for the new age". --Brian Morton, Glasgow Herald

"Political Emotions is an important work, and Nussbaum has created valuable space for love and human imperfection to be weighed more heavily in the search for justice" --Geraldine Van Bueren QC, Times Higher Education, 7 November 2013

Political Emotions is an important contribution to an already impressive body of work. Nussbaum has transformed modern philosophy, helping to re-connect it to the emotions, to psychology, to the arts, and to public policy. --Jules Evans, LSE Review of Books, 11 December 2013

"In Political Emotions, she argues more specifically for the importance of love in politics. She is well aware that many liberal-minded intellectuals are wary about bringing too much emotion into the public square but she argues persuasively that 'ceding the terrain of emotion-shaping to anti-liberal forces gives them a huge advantage in the people's hearts and risks making people think of liberal values as tepid and boring'. [...] Nussbaum makes the general point eloquently and persuasively [...]" --Julian Baggini, Financial Times, 6 January 2014

"Continuing her philosophy inquiry into both emotions and social justice, Nussbaum now makes the case for love, arguing that emotions rooted in love can foster commitment to shared goals and keep fear, envy and disgust at bay." --Marina Gerner, Times Literary Supplement, 28 February 2014

About the Author:

Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0674503805
• ISBN 13: 9780674503809
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480