Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

The capabilities approach to welfare (with Martha Nussbaum)

Apr 27, 2023

Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, delves into the capabilities approach to welfare, emphasizing individual abilities over traditional metrics like GDP. She debates the moral obligations we owe to animals, questioning whether zoos are ethical and exploring plant injustices. Nussbaum discusses how different species require tailored care, the complexities of human impact on animal welfare, and the urgent need for legislative reforms to protect sentient beings in various industries.

01:15:08

Creator website

Episode guests

Martha Nussbaum

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

The Limits of Philanthropic Support in Building Durable Institutions

00:40

Fascinating Abilities of Whales and Other Creatures

01:21

The Sentience of Animals: What We Know

00:47

Intro

2min

Rethinking Welfare: The Capabilities Approach

12min

Exploring Capabilities in Animal Welfare

8min

Exploring Animal Welfare and Human Impact

4min

Sentience and Moral Obligation

16min

Ethics of Intervention in Wildlife and Tourism

5min

Rethinking Animal Rights and Philosophical Engagement

22min

Understanding Personality Disorders and Ethical Behavior

5min

Read the full transcript here.

What is the capabilities approach to welfare? To what is this approach reacting? How should capabilities be balanced or traded off against each other? How do capabilities differ from needs? Are zoos unethical? Can plants be subject to injustice? What are our ethical obligations towards factory farms? How do our ethical obligations to domesticated animals and livestock differ from our ethical obligations to wild animals, if at all? Why is vulnerability important? Is inequality intrinsically bad, or is it only bad because of its effects?

Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department and the Law School of the University of Chicago. She gave the 2016 Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities and won the 2016 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, the 2018 Berggruen Prize in Philosophy and Culture, and the 2020 Holberg Prize. These three prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards available in fields not eligible for a Nobel. She has written more than twenty-two books, including Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions; Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice; Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities; The Monarchy of Fear, and most recently Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility. Learn more about her via her University of Chicago bio.

Staff