Nussbaum: "Mutual advantage" vs. "fellowship with others"

[eve_prime]

In one of the H-Net groups today there was an interesting and useful review of Martha Nussbaum's 2006 book, The Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership. She proposes improving upon the "social contract" conceptualization of justice with one based on "capabilities," which she believes would result in better justice for those who are unable to fully participate in social contracts due to their weakness vis à vis those with more power. The review gives a nice summary and critique of the book. Later, Boria Sax (who wrote one of the main reference books on animals in mythology) posted about how he used this approach in his not-yet-published book on the Tower ravens.

I especially liked the phrase in the review about "social cooperation as an aim of intrinsic value" and the part about, "while self-interested advantage-seeking is one aim of human beings, so too is the goal of living in fellowship with others." Maybe when I redo the yellowjacket essay I'll include these ideas.