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.
