Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum, born Martha Craven Nussbaum in 1947, is an American philosopher who works across ancient Greek ethics, political philosophy, feminism and the philosophy of emotion, drawing on Aristotelian and liberal traditions. She is best known, with the economist Amartya Sen, for developing the capabilities approach to human well-being and international development, which measures a good life by the real freedoms and opportunities, or capabilities, a person has rather than by wealth or utility alone. Her 1986 book The Fragility of Goodness examines how ancient Greek tragedy and philosophy treat the vulnerability of ethical life to chance, and her later work extends into animal rights, disability and the emotions, especially compassion and disgust, in public life.