#10 Martha C. Nussbaum | Not for Profit - The Silent Crisis in Higher Education

ResponsAbility - Dialogues on Practical Knowledge and Bildung in Professional Studies

In this episode we have one of the most distinguished and well-known thinkers of our times with us: Martha C. Nussbaum. She is currently Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Law School and the Philosophy Department. As a philosopher she published on a wide range of topics like ethics, feminism, political philosophy as well as ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. In our conversation with her, we delve into the Princeton Classics edition of her book Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, which has just been released. Among other topics, we discuss the vital role of liberal arts and explore why their significance is increasingly diminished and even endangered in higher education.

00:01:26 – Why does democracy need the humanities?

00:05:56 – Why is there a Silent Crisis in Higher Education and what is it about?

00:09:57 – Why is it bad that the humanities are eradicated in certain university programs?

00:11:47 – What is Socratic pedagogy and how can it be practiced with students?

00:18:13 – Do one need specific classes to promote the three abilities that foster citizenship?

00:19:42 – What is meant by the ability to cultivate imagination?

00:24:45 – Is our human capacity of transcendence the key to develop responsibility?

00:29:03 – About the educational approach of the philosopher and poet Tagore

00:34:12 – How can liberal education be integrated in professional studies?

00:37:45 – On academic essay writing

00:41:52 – On Greek tragedies and their relevance for today’s world

00:44:11 – Why do we need to think about anger and forgiveness?

00:49:34 – Why philosophers who only have one single message, have become dead

Further literature:

• Callard, A. (2025): Open Socrates. The Case for a Philosophical Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Nussbaum, Martha (2024): The Tenderness of Silent Minds. Benjamin Britten and his War Requiem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Nussbaum, Martha (2023): Justice for Animals. Our Collective Responsibility. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
• Nussbaum, M. (2024 [2010]): Not For Profit. Why Democracy Needs The Humanities. Princton & Oxford: Princton University Press.
• Nussbaum, M. (2016): Anger and Forgiveness. Resentment, Generosity, Justice. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press.
• Nussbaum, M. (2001 [1986]): The Fragility of Goodness. Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Nussbaum, Martha (1997). Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.