Martha Nussbaum in Brief
Martha Nussbaum (born 1947) is an American philosopher and professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago. She is best known for the Capabilities Approach, the idea that justice should be judged by what people are actually able to do and be, and for her list of ten central human capabilities. Her major books include The Fragility of Goodness, Upheavals of Thought, Women and Human Development and Frontiers of Justice.
Who Is Martha Nussbaum?
Martha Nussbaum is an American philosopher whose work spans ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, feminist philosophy, the philosophy of emotions and ancient Greek and Roman thought. She holds the title of Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, with appointments in both the Law School and the Philosophy Department.
Her central question is simple: what do people need in order to have a real opportunity to live a dignified, flourishing life? Instead of measuring a society by its wealth or average happiness, she asks what each individual person is actually able to do and to become.
She connects this question to practical problems: poverty, gender inequality, disability, education, religious pluralism and the treatment of animals. That mix of ancient ideas and urgent modern problems is why she is so widely read in philosophy, law, economics and international development.
Martha Nussbaum: Quick Facts
- Full name — Martha Craven Nussbaum
- Born — May 6, 1947, New York City
- Nationality — American
- Position — Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago
- Education — BA, New York University; MA and PhD, Harvard University
- Major fields — Ethics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy, philosophy of emotions, philosophy of law
- Famous theory — The Capabilities Approach
- Key influences — Aristotle, the Stoics, Amartya Sen, John Rawls
- Major awards — Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy (2016), Berggruen Prize (2018), Holberg Prize (2021)
Compare her view of dignity with Immanuel Kant's, or her approach to animals with Peter Singer's.
Martha Nussbaum's Early Life and Education
Martha Nussbaum was born Martha Craven in New York City on May 6, 1947. She studied at New York University and completed her master's degree and doctorate at Harvard, where she trained in classics and philosophy. Theatre, literature and Greek tragedy shaped her work from the start: she often uses stories, poems and plays to think about vulnerability, love and loss.
She taught at Harvard and Brown, and has been a visiting professor at Oxford, before joining the University of Chicago in 1995, where her work sits between philosophy and law. Her 1986 book The Fragility of Goodness, on luck and ethics in Greek tragedy and philosophy, made her widely known across the humanities.
Over time her interests moved from reading ancient texts to asking what modern governments owe their citizens, especially women, people with disabilities and the global poor.
Why Is Martha Nussbaum Important?
Nussbaum gave philosophy a practical standard for justice. Her Capabilities Approach asks whether people have real opportunities, not just rights on paper or money in an account. The approach is part of the broader capability framework that has influenced human development thinking, public policy and human rights debates.
She also changed how philosophers talk about emotions, arguing that fear, grief, anger and compassion contain judgments that can be examined, rather than being mere irrational interruptions of reason.
And she widened the circle of justice. Her work asks what justice requires toward women, people with disabilities, people in other countries and nonhuman animals: the groups that classic social-contract theories struggle to include.
What Is Martha Nussbaum's Capabilities Approach?
Quick answer: The Capabilities Approach is a theory of justice that asks what people are actually able to do and to be. It treats well-being as a matter of real opportunities (health, education, safety, relationships, political voice), not just income, resources or reported happiness.
Two people can have the same income and very different real freedom. A person with a disability may need extra support, a girl may be kept out of school, and a worker may have a legal right to vote but no safe way to reach a polling station. Nussbaum argues that justice has to look at these differences instead of counting resources alone.
Capabilities vs. Functionings
A capability is a real opportunity, such as being able to get an education. A functioning is the activity actually achieved, such as becoming educated. Nussbaum wants society to secure the capability and leave the choice to the person.
She presents the approach as a partial theory of justice: governments should secure a minimum threshold of each central capability for every citizen. Above that threshold, people stay free to live very different lives.
What Are Martha Nussbaum's Ten Central Capabilities?
Nussbaum's list names ten areas of human life that a just society must protect at a basic threshold so that every person can live with dignity. The list is not a blueprint for one kind of life; it marks the minimum conditions for choosing one.
| # | Capability | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Life | Living a human life of normal length |
| 2 | Bodily health | Good health, adequate nutrition and shelter |
| 3 | Bodily integrity | Freedom from violence, and choice over movement and reproduction |
| 4 | Senses, imagination and thought | Education, creative expression, freedom of thought and religion |
| 5 | Emotions | Forming attachments without fear or neglect warping emotional life |
| 6 | Practical reason | Forming your own conception of the good and planning your life |
| 7 | Affiliation | Relationships, and protection from humiliation and discrimination |
| 8 | Other species | Living in relation to animals, plants and the natural world |
| 9 | Play | Laughing, playing and enjoying recreation |
| 10 | Control over one's environment | Political participation, property rights and meaningful work |
Nussbaum groups two of these, affiliation and practical reason, as especially important because they organize and run through all the others.
Nussbaum vs. Amartya Sen vs. John Rawls
Nussbaum developed her view in conversation with the economist Amartya Sen, who pioneered the broader capability framework, and in response to John Rawls, whose A Theory of Justice measures advantage through "primary goods." Both thinkers shaped her argument, and she disagrees with each on a key point. She and Sen also co-edited The Quality of Life (1993).
| Question | Nussbaum | Sen | Rawls |
|---|---|---|---|
| What should justice measure? | Capabilities (real opportunities) | Capabilities (real freedoms) | Primary goods (rights, income, opportunities) |
| Fixed list? | Yes, ten central capabilities | No, chosen through public reasoning | A list of primary goods |
| Role of the theory | Partial theory of minimum justice | Evaluating and comparing situations | Full theory of justice as fairness |
| Key text | Creating Capabilities | Development as Freedom | A Theory of Justice |
Martha Nussbaum on Human Dignity
Dignity is the moral starting point of Nussbaum's politics. Every person is an end with a life of their own, not a tool for economic output or the welfare of a group. This echoes Kant, but Nussbaum gives dignity a practical, institutional meaning: respecting someone means securing the conditions in which they can actually think, choose, form relationships and take part in public life.
This also means dignity cannot depend on productivity or independence. A just society must take seriously people who depend on care, including children, the elderly and people with severe disabilities.
Martha Nussbaum's Philosophy of Emotions
In Upheavals of Thought (2001), Nussbaum argues that emotions are not blind surges that disturb reason. They contain judgments about what matters to our flourishing: grief says "I have lost something of great value," and fear says "I am under threat." Because they involve beliefs, emotions can be wrong, biased or shaped by prejudice, so they can be criticized and educated.
| Emotion | Judgment it contains | Key text |
|---|---|---|
| Grief | Someone or something of great importance to my life is gone | Upheavals of Thought |
| Fear | Something important to me is under threat | The Monarchy of Fear |
| Compassion | Another person's suffering is serious, not entirely their fault, and could happen to me | Upheavals of Thought |
| Anger | I or someone I care about has been wronged | Anger and Forgiveness |
In Anger and Forgiveness (2016) she argues that anger often carries a wish for payback that does not actually repair harm, and proposes a forward-looking "transition-anger" that turns outrage into work for change. Her studies of disgust and shame, in Hiding from Humanity (2004), examine how these emotions can fuel unjust laws.
Martha Nussbaum, Feminism and Adaptive Preferences
In Women and Human Development (2000), Nussbaum applies the Capabilities Approach to the lives of women in India, drawing on the stories of real women such as Vasanti and Jayamma. Her point is that legal equality is not enough if daily life blocks education, bodily safety, work or political voice.
What Are Adaptive Preferences?
Adaptive preferences are desires shaped by severely limited circumstances. Someone who has never had real options may report being satisfied with very little. Nussbaum argues this is why satisfaction surveys cannot be the only test of justice.
She defends universal standards of dignity against the claim that every cultural practice must be accepted as it is, while insisting that the capabilities list leaves room for many ways of living. Her sharp 1999 essay "The Professor of Parody" also criticized Judith Butler's version of feminist theory for turning away from material change, a debate that is still discussed today. Earlier feminist foundations appear in Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir.
Frontiers of Justice: Three Problems Social Contract Theory Struggles With
Frontiers of Justice (2006) argues that classic social-contract theories, including Rawls's, leave three problems unsolved. They assume that citizens are roughly equal in ability and power, that justice is owed only within a nation, and that justice is owed only to humans.
| Frontier | The problem | Nussbaum's response |
|---|---|---|
| Disability | Contract theory assumes everyone cooperates as an equal | Justice must include people with impairments and those who care for them |
| Nationality | Justice is usually limited to citizens of one state | Basic capabilities are owed to people everywhere |
| Species membership | Animals fall outside the contract | Animals have species-specific forms of flourishing that deserve protection |
Martha Nussbaum and Animal Ethics
Nussbaum extends the Capabilities Approach to animals. Each species has its own characteristic way of flourishing, so an elephant, a dolphin and a dog need different things. Confinement, cruelty, habitat destruction and domination can block a creature from living that life, and this harm goes beyond pain alone.
This differs from the utilitarian approach of Peter Singer, which counts suffering and preferences. Nussbaum focuses on the flourishing of each individual animal and on legal responsibility, an argument she develops in Justice for Animals (2023).
Martha Nussbaum on Education and the Humanities
In Not for Profit (2010), Nussbaum warns that education focused only on economic growth neglects the abilities democracy needs: critical thinking, imagination and the capacity to see the world through other people's eyes. Literature, history, philosophy and the arts, she argues, train exactly these abilities. See also philosophy of education.
Martha Nussbaum, Aristotle and the Stoics
Aristotle gives Nussbaum her central idea of eudaimonia, or flourishing, and her focus on practical wisdom and the material conditions of a good life. She adapts it to modern politics instead of copying it, rejecting his exclusions.
From the Stoics (see Hellenistic & Roman philosophy, Epictetus, Seneca) she takes the idea that emotions involve judgments and that all humans belong to one moral community. But she rejects their goal of freeing ourselves from vulnerability, arguing that love, friendship and compassion depend on caring about things we cannot fully control. Her book The Therapy of Desire (1994) explores this debate. The tension between luck and ethics also connects to Bernard Williams.
Martha Nussbaum Books in Order
If you are new to Nussbaum, start with Creating Capabilities for the Capabilities Approach, Upheavals of Thought for her theory of emotions, or Not for Profit for her defense of the humanities.
| Year | Book | Main topic |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | The Fragility of Goodness | Luck, vulnerability and ethics in Greek thought |
| 1990 | Love's Knowledge | Philosophy and literature |
| 1994 | The Therapy of Desire | Hellenistic ethics and the emotions |
| 1997 | Cultivating Humanity | Liberal education and global citizenship |
| 1998 | Sex and Social Justice | Feminism, sexuality and law |
| 2000 | Women and Human Development | Capabilities and women's lives |
| 2001 | Upheavals of Thought | Emotions as judgments |
| 2004 | Hiding from Humanity | Disgust, shame and the law |
| 2006 | Frontiers of Justice | Disability, nationality, species |
| 2010 | Not for Profit | Humanities and democracy |
| 2011 | Creating Capabilities | Accessible introduction to the approach |
| 2013 | Political Emotions | Love, compassion and public life |
| 2016 | Anger and Forgiveness | Resentment, generosity, justice |
| 2018 | The Monarchy of Fear | Fear and political crisis |
| 2019 | The Cosmopolitan Tradition | Global justice from the Stoics to Kant |
| 2023 | Justice for Animals | Our collective responsibility to animals |
Criticisms of Martha Nussbaum's Philosophy
Who chooses the list? Critics ask who has the authority to decide which capabilities are universal, and whether a philosopher's list risks imposing particular cultural values. Sen, for example, prefers public reasoning to a fixed list.
Hard to measure. Income is easy to count; capabilities such as practical reason or affiliation are much harder to measure and compare across countries.
Paternalism. Some worry that a government committed to securing capabilities might override people's own choices about how to live. Nussbaum answers that the approach protects capabilities, not required functionings, so people remain free to decline them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Martha Nussbaum
Who is Martha Nussbaum?
Martha Nussbaum (born 1947) is an American philosopher and the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. She is best known for developing the Capabilities Approach and for her work on emotions, feminism, education, and animal ethics.
What is the Capabilities Approach?
The Capabilities Approach judges justice and well-being by what people are actually able to do and to be, rather than by income or resources alone. Nussbaum argues that every person should have access to a threshold level of ten central capabilities.
What are Martha Nussbaum's ten central capabilities?
Life; bodily health; bodily integrity; senses, imagination and thought; emotions; practical reason; affiliation; other species; play; and control over one's environment, both political and material.
What is the difference between Nussbaum's and Amartya Sen's capability approach?
Sen developed the broader capability framework and generally leaves the choice of important capabilities to public reasoning. Nussbaum proposes a specific list of ten central capabilities and uses it as a partial theory of basic justice.
What did Martha Nussbaum argue about emotions?
In Upheavals of Thought (2001), Nussbaum argues that emotions are not irrational forces but contain evaluative judgments about what matters to a person's flourishing. Because those judgments can be mistaken or biased, emotions can be examined and criticized.
What are adaptive preferences?
Adaptive preferences are desires that people shape to fit severely limited circumstances. Nussbaum uses the idea to argue that reported satisfaction cannot be the only measure of justice, because deprived people may lower their expectations to survive.
Which Martha Nussbaum book should I read first?
Creating Capabilities (2011) is her most accessible introduction to the Capabilities Approach. For her work on emotions, start with Upheavals of Thought, and for her views on education, read Not for Profit.
Did Martha Nussbaum write about animal ethics?
Yes. She extended the Capabilities Approach to nonhuman animals in Frontiers of Justice (2006) and developed the argument in Justice for Animals (2023), claiming that animals have species-specific forms of flourishing that humans have a duty not to obstruct.
Sources & Further Reading
This page draws on Nussbaum's published books and established reference works. Use them to verify the details above.
- Nussbaum, Martha. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership. Harvard University Press, 2006.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton University Press, 2010.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Harvard University Press, 2011.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice. Oxford University Press, 2016.
- Nussbaum, Martha. Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility. Simon & Schuster, 2023.
- Nussbaum, Martha, and Amartya Sen (eds.). The Quality of Life. Oxford University Press, 1993.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Capability Approach. plato.stanford.edu
- Encyclopaedia Britannica. Martha Nussbaum. britannica.com
- University of Chicago Law School. Martha C. Nussbaum, faculty profile. law.uchicago.edu
Editorial note: Publication years refer to the original publication, not to a particular edition or translation.
Martha Nussbaum Deep Dives
Detailed guides to each major Nussbaum topic are coming soon.
Why Martha Nussbaum Still Matters
Nussbaum asks philosophy to look at the real conditions of people's lives. A person can hold rights on paper and still lack the health, education, safety or support to use them, and the Capabilities Approach gives us a way to see that gap.
Her work on emotions, feminism, disability and animals shows how far that question reaches. Her central question remains the right one to ask of any society: what does every person need to have a genuine opportunity to flourish?
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