[.ca] Sex and Social Justice (ISBN 0195112105)

From Amazon.com:
"Human beings have a dignity that deserves respect from laws and social institutions. This idea has many origins in many traditions; by now it is at the core of modern liberal democratic thought and practice all over the world. The idea of human dignity is usually taken to involve an idea of equal worth: rich and poor, rural and urban, female and male, all are equally deserving of respect, just in virtue of being human, and this respect should not be abridged on account of a characteristic that is distributed by the whims of fortune." But in the world we live in, notes classicist and law professor Martha C. Nussbaum, gender and sexual orientation are used routinely as excuses to violate human dignity. In 15 deftly written essays that are as accessible as they are erudite, she makes a convincing argument for viewing feminism and gay-rights activism as two facets of the same movement, a movement that has legitimate roots in the writings of philosophers like Kant and Mill (as well as the ancient Greeks). Whether she's discussing issues as concrete as Colorado's attempts to pass legislation that discriminated against homosexuals and the contemporary debate over female genital mutilation, or as abstract as the social construction of desire, Nussbaum writes with a thoroughness and clarity that help the reader better to imagine a society in which true equality for all people could be achieved. --Ron Hogan

applies analytic philosophy to feminist issues:
Readers should be aware that Nussbaum has been trained as a classicist, and makes references to ancient Greece and Rome (but especially Greek philosophers) at every conceivable opportunity. Her manner of thinking and style of argumentation rest squarely within analytic philosophy. The fact that Nussbaum shows so much talent in these faculties is a tribute to the feminist cause. Sectioning off an entire methodology of thought as "male" is limiting. I don't buy it. The evidence of her work with international development is quite abundant in the numerous firsthand accounts she gives of viewpoints expressed by men and women living in societies that sanction cruel treatment of women (mostly in Africa and South Asia). "International perspective" means, in this case, that she draws upon knowledge gained in communicating with individuals from other cultures, and incorporates that knowledge into her arguments (which happen to fit into the western tradition of rational inquiry). It does not mean that she adopts a rhetorical style specific to a non-western culture. Several articles relate to Andrea Dworkin's work, of which I am appreciative. As a male, it has for obvious reasons been hard to let Dworkin's ideas about my gender slide by unnoticed. Nussbaum's balanced approach helped me see some of the value I had missed, without relenting on the criticism where it was appropriate. I took off one star because it gets a little old to see *everything* related to Aristotle, and because the themes of the essays are a little repetitive - unavoidable in a book that compiles essays that were written individually at various times. These papers are fairly dense, filled with complex arguments and legal minutiae. People who have never taken an academic interest in law or philosophy might get overwhelmed. People who love both of those subjects, as I do, and who take an interest in issues affecting women, as I once again do, should find something of value in this book.

Just To Be Fair:
I decided to write this review just to be fair to anyone who is thinking about reading this book. I say this because the reviews I read of the book that were posted were severely misleading and unnecessarily harsh. So I will first of all respond to some of the misguided criticisms of the book that you will find in the other reviews, and then present my view on the book. First of all, no the author does not discuss discrimination against children or the elderly. Why would this make her book bad? She is dealing with SPECIFIC issues, like issues of justice relating to gender and sexual orientation. These issues are certainly large enough in scope and importance to justify their own treatment in a book, there is no reason why a discussion of every conceivable type of discrimination should also be included. The issues of discrimination against the young, the elderly, and the religious are important, but there are numerous books out there on those issues if someone wants to read them. It is unfair to say that this particular book should have to address them, it already runs 550 or so pages, that should be enough. Also, someone complained that the author takes a purely male - centered perspective on the issues, and thus could not possibly be a feminist. I must confess I don't think you honestly read the book if you think that. She gives REASONS as to why her perspective is right and is feminist as well. There is no reason why rationality is a peculiarly male preoccupation, and I think that to intonate that is sexist in and of itself, because the conclusion seems to be that women are not reasoned creatures like men are, and that is a view women have been struggling against for centuries. Basically, the important thing is that there can be disagreement about the issue of how important rationality is to ethics, and that is certainly legitimate, but it is unfair and nothing more than ad hominem argumentation to say that someone cannot dispute the supposition that rationality is not important to ethics and still remain an important philosopher or feminist. Finally, someone complained that this book is not "philosophy," because it pertains to political and social issues and is not well argued. The book is obviously well reasoned, and Nussbaum is an eminently respected philosopher. More importantly though, if philosophers don't deal with political and social issues, who should? Should we leave that up to politicians, because they obviously care and know about the issues? It seems to me that someone should do some serious thinking about political issues, and I see no reason why it should not be philosophers, who generally have a reputation for clarity and calm rationality. This is nothing more than someone's bias about what is most important for philosophers to discuss, and you can have your bias, that is fine, but you shouldn't tell people not to read this book because you don't like the subject matter. If anything, that should cause you to NOT review the book, because you should be uninterested in the subject matter. In sum, this book was very well and calmly argued, unlike the reviews of it posted here. Nussbaum does not bow down to current fads like cultural and ethical relativism, or a care - centered feminist ethics. I thought when reading it that this might cause some controversy and anger, but I anticipated nothing like what I have seen in these reviews. She sheds light on important issues of global and national policy, and does so without abandoning reasoned argumentation, which if nothing else seems to be what philosophy should be about. Beyond making an excellent contribution to metaethics and international development policy, she has wonderful essays about the role of retribution in the law and what we can glean philosophically from important works of literature, for example there is an essay on the work of Virginia Wolf. I would recommend this book to you if you would like a well - rounded introduction to the thought of one of the most important philosophers of our time, and if you are interested in any of the issues I just mentioned.

A patch job grounded in Western intellectualism:
Nussbaum's book is billed as "growing out of years of work with an international development agency." There is little evidence of this. While well-argued and intelligent, the book rests solidly in the Western, male, intellectual tradition. Although Nussbuam attempts to develop a feminist perspective, she is unsuccessful. Obviously Nussbaum has a superb education and is a good thinker, but she is trapped in the shackles of rationalism. Her intellectual vision rests solidly on a male-developed foundation and through that prism, she analyzes contemporary female thinkers. Because of the contradiction, her analysis is dry and off-base. Her technique of using literary and philosophical references to illustrate reality is annoying. I finished the book wondering how old Nussbaum is (the writing seems young) and how much of her life has been spent inside the ivory tower or the pallid conference room. She seems to live in a dying world. The jacket references to an internationalist perspective are extremely misleading and the essays are disjointed.

A for Effort:
Nussbaum is a brilliant classicist, startlingly well-read, and superbly educated. But her status as an academic and her lack of wide-ranging experience make this attempt rather ineffective and at times self-contradictory. A reviewer below says that Nussbaum rightly doesn't talk specifically speak about the rights of children and the elderly -- but the precedent she sets in the situations she does discuss leaves both parties high and dry. Most laughable is her bizarre comparison of the economic life of a prostitute and that of a factory worker. It is shockingly evident that she is basing the portraits she analyzes on the images she has of such people in her head -- in her attempts to be specific she is ridiculously general. This particular comparison puts Heidi Fleiss against a character from Les Miserable. Her tendency (noted by another reviewer) to use examples from literature and classical texts ad nauseum is extremely annoying. Most importantly, however, her insistent and hopeless rationalism damns the entire work.

A Hope For Global Justice:
This is what all philosophy should be--tightly argued, clearly written, and deeply moving. Nussbaum (and Amartya Sen's) capabilities approach offers promise in taking on problems of distributive justice and human rights. Nussbaum deserves praise for unflinchingly shining the moral spotlight upon all institutions--from the family to the nation-state--a project unsatisfactorily handled by some brands of liberalism. I eagerly await Nussbaum's next book.