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Single Idea 21010

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / D. Justice / 1. Basis of justice ]

Full Idea

The basic claim of my account of social justice is this: respect for human dignity requires that citizens be placed above an ample (specified) threshold of capability in all ten of the areas.

Gist of Idea

Justice requires that the ten main capabilities of people are reasonably enabled

Source

Martha Nussbaum (Creating Capabilities [2011], 2)

Book Ref

Nussbaum,Martha C.: 'Creating Capabilities' [Belknap Harvard 2013], p.36


A Reaction

[The capabilities are given, briefly, in Idea 21009] The one word that bothers me here is 'dignity'. It is very vague, and can, I think, be reduced to much clearer and more obvious concepts. A person lacks dignity when they vomit, in ordinary usage.

Related Idea

Idea 21009 Capabilities: Life, Health, Safety, Mental life, Love, Planning, Joining in, Nature, Play, Control [Nussbaum, by PG]


The 22 ideas from Martha Nussbaum

Storytelling is never neutral; some features of the world must be emphasised [Nussbaum]
Liberalism does not need a comprehensive account of value [Nussbaum]
Capabilities: Life, Health, Safety, Mental life, Love, Planning, Joining in, Nature, Play, Control [Nussbaum, by PG]
Justice requires that the ten main capabilities of people are reasonably enabled [Nussbaum]
Capabilities are grounded in bare humanity and agency; qualifying as rational is not needed [Nussbaum]
Rights are not just barriers against state interference; governments must affirm capabilities of citizens [Nussbaum]
Negative liberty is incoherent; all liberties, to do and to be, require the prevention of interference [Nussbaum]
We shouldn't focus on actual preferences, which may be distorted by injustices [Nussbaum]
Political and civil rights are not separate from economic and social rights [Nussbaum]
Women are often treated like children, and not respected for their choices [Nussbaum]
Social contracts assume equal powers among the participants [Nussbaum]
Political freedom is an incoherent project, because some freedoms limit other freedoms [Nussbaum]
Any establishment belief system is incompatible with full respect for all citizens [Nussbaum]
We should respect animals in the way that we respect the animal nature in humans [Nussbaum]
It may be no harm to kill an animal which cannot plan for its future [Nussbaum]
Compassion is unreliable, because it favours people close to us [Nussbaum]
Keep premises as weak as possible, to avoid controversial difficulties [Nussbaum]
Particularism gives no guidance for the future [Nussbaum]
The Capabilities Approach sees animals as agents, not just as having feelings [Nussbaum]
The Aristotelian idea that choices can be perceived needs literary texts to expound it [Nussbaum]
Liberals must respect family freedom - but families are the great oppressors of women [Nussbaum]
Philosophers after Aristotle endorsed the medical analogy for eudaimonia [Nussbaum, by Flanagan]