Martha C. Nussbaum

2012 PRINCE OF ASTURIAS AWARD FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES

Martha C. Nussbaum

Considered one of the most innovative and influential voices in philosophy today and an advocate of the role of the humanities in education, in her works Nussbaum propounds a universalist conception of women's rights capable of overcoming the limits of cultural relativism.

Biography

Born in New York (USA) in 1947, Martha Craven Nussbaum obtained her BA from NYU and was awarded a Ph.D. in Law and Ethics from Harvard in 1975.The founder and Coordinator of the Center for Comparative Constitutionalism, she is currently the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department, Law School and Divinity School of the University of Chicago, having taught at Harvard, Brown and Oxford.

Considered one of the most innovative and influential voices in philosophy today and an advocate of the role of the humanities in education, in her works Nussbaum propounds a universalist conception of women's rights capable of overcoming the limits of cultural relativism. Her theories stem from the belief that people who understand good differently can agree on a number of universal ethical principles that are applicable wherever a situation of inequality and injustice arises. She has also put forward a constitutional and political framework which both respects local traditions and institutions and may give rise to political goals in specific contexts, thereby laying the ethical foundations for development aid.

Between 1986 and 1993, she was a research adviser at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (Helsinki, Finland), a part of the United Nations University. She has chaired the Committee on International Cooperation and the Committee on the Status of Women, both of the American Philosophical Association.She has been a member of the Council of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Board of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Published works

  • Aristotle's De Motu Animalium (1978)
  • Love's Knowledge (1990)
  • The Therapy of Desire (1994)
  • Poetic Justice (1996)
  • Sex and Social Justice (1998)
  • Women and Human Development (2000)
  • Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (2001)

Other works

  • Hiding from Humanity: Disgust Shame and the Law (2004)
  • Frontiers of Justice: Disability Nationality Species Membership (2006)
  • The Clash Within: Democracy Religious Violence and India's Future (2007)
  • Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality (2008)
  • From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law (2010)
  • Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (2010)
  • Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (2011)

Merits

Member of the Academy of Finland and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2008), she holds honorary degrees from more than thirty universities in the United States, Canada, Asia and Europe. Among the awards she has received are the Brandeis Creative Arts Award in Non-Fiction (1990), the PEN Spielvogel-Diamondstein Award for the best collection of essays (1991), the Ness Book Award of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (1998), the Book Award of the North American Society of Social Philosophy (2000), for Sex and Social Justice, the Grawemeyer Award in Education (2002), the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of New York (2000), the Barnard College Medal of Distinction (2003), the Professional and Scholarly Book Award for Law from the Association of American University Publishers (2004), the Redcliffe Alumnae Recognition Award (2007), the A.SK Social Science Award of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (2009), and the Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence from the American Philosophical Society (2009).

Minutes of the jury

At its meeting held in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, composed of Ms Inés Alberdi, Mr Lluis Xabel Fernández Álvarez, Gonzalo Anes y Álvarez de Castrillón, Marquess of Castrillón, Ms Inés Fernández-Ordóñez, Mr José Luis García Delgado, Mr Severino García Vigón, Mr Mauro Guillén Rodríguez, Ms Carmen Iglesias Cano, Mr Adolfo Menéndez Menéndez, Mr Manuel Menéndez Menéndez, Mr Manuel Olivencia Ruiz, Mr José Manuel Otero Novas, Ms Carmen Pérez Die, Mr Rafael Puyol Antolín, chaired by Aurelio Menéndez Menéndez, Marquess of Ibias, and with Mr Juan Vázquez García acting as secretary, has decided to bestow the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences on the American philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum, who has a profound knowledge of Greek thought, for her contribution to the Humanities, the Philosophy of Law and Politics and for her ethical conception of economic development.

One of the most innovative and influential voices of contemporary philosophy, Martha C. Nussbaum advocates a universalistic conception of human dignity and women's rights to overcome the limits of cultural relativism. Her theories are based on the belief that those who have a different understanding of what good is can agree on a number of universal ethical principles that are applicable wherever a situation of inequality and injustice arises. Martha C. Nussbaum defends the role of the humanities in education as an essential element for the quality of democracy.

Professor Nussbaum has addressed the study of economic development and ethics understanding poverty as a deprivation of human capabilities, an approach that has had a major impact on diverse international organisations. The ethical dimension is present throughout her work and she has taken an active part in the major social and economic debates of our time.

Oviedo, 16th May 2012