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Persona #213

Martha Nussbaum

1947–
American philosopher; Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor at Chicago; principal contemporary neo-Aristotelian and theorist of capabilities approach

Capabilities, emotions, and the fragility of goodness — Aristotelian virtue ethics in dialogue with contemporary feminism and development economics

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Martha Nussbaum
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediated
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method N/A
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Martha Nussbaum

Standard linear historical-biographical time; the good life is a temporally extended whole.

Space

Martha Nussbaum

Standard substantival space.

Matter

Martha Nussbaum

Standard substantival matter; the embodied vulnerable person is the central reference.

Observer

Martha Nussbaum

Plural embodied capability-bearing persons; mediated knowledge through reason, narrative, and emotion. No metaphysical agency in the philosophical framework (though Nussbaum is a practicing Reform Jew).

Energy

Martha Nussbaum

Standard physics.

Information

Martha Nussbaum

No formal personal afterlife in the philosophical framework.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Martha Nussbaum

Nussbaum has been criticized from the Left for the capabilities approach's compatibility with liberal-market frameworks, and from communitarian-traditionalist Catholic and conservative quarters for her positions on sexuality, abortion, and sex work (notably "Sex and Social Justice"). Her sheer productivity has occasionally been cited as a vice (works of varying quality), but the central philosophical contributions have remained influential.