Martha Nussbaum’s Universalist Feminism

• Main Author: Maria de Lourdes Borges
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2018-12-01
• Series: Ethic@: an International Journal for Moral Philosophy
• Subjects: Feminismo; Nussbaum; Capabilidade
• Online Access: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/ethic/article/view/58483

In this article, I present philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s defense of political liberalism, understood as the liberal Enlightenment tradition that goes from Kant to Rawls. Many feminists have objected that the liberal conception of human nature and political philosophy cannot constitute an adequate foundation for women liberation. Nussbaum objects to this view by showing that liberalism offers universal concepts, which are essential values for the feminist movement and women's struggle, such as the notion of person, self-respect, capacity for choice, and equal consideration of the value and dignity of human beings. In addition, feminist movements currently use these concepts to grond their claims. In the end, I present the notion of capability, showing how this concept responds to criticism of universalist feminism.