Morality by Words: Murdoch, Nussbaum, Rorty

Rorty and His Critics

Nussbaum: a Utilitarian Critique

This Essay offers a utilitarian perspective on Martha Nussbaum’s theory of justice. Nussbaum believes that society should guarantee to every individual a threshold level of central human capabilities. Although Nussbaum’s approach has considerable appeal, it is implausible and unappealing when it diverges greatly from utilitarianism. Nussbaum’s theory requires that enormous sums of money be devo...

An Evening with Iris Murdoch

ence Steen. Professor Davies began by quoting from something Miss Murdoch had written years ago linking the novelists function with therapy. While perhaps art might at times have a therapeutic effect, she did not think that should be the aim of the artist. Art should seek something fundamental whatever the artist chooses. Here your correspondent feels that his notes and his memory are not adequ...

Nussbaum, Capabilities and Older People

This paper assesses the usefulness of Nussbaum’s version of the capabilities approach for understanding the condition of older people in developing countries. It observes that ageing is a highly heterogeneous experience, but that policy debates take a polarized approach. The paper then summarizes key elements of Nussbaum’s approach, relates these to older people, and identifies a key distinctio...

Nominal Rewriting ? Maribel Fernández and Murdoch

Nominal rewriting is based on the observation that if we add support for alphaequivalence to first-order syntax using the nominal-set approach, then systems with binding, including higher-order reduction schemes such as lambda-calculus betareduction, can be smoothly represented. Nominal rewriting maintains a strict distinction between variables of the objectlanguage (atoms) and of the meta-lang...