Martha Nussbaum

Este artículo pretende mostrar la crucial importancia de la conversación en la obra Der Stechlin de Fontane. Frente al tradicional desarrollo de la trama literaria, que centra la atención en el drama de los conflictos (complicación y desenlace, tensión y sorpresa, conflicto romántico, etc.), en esta novela no encontramos nada de eso y, entonces, aparentemente, no ha pasado nada. No obstante, este juicio inicial queda desacreditado en la medida en que, compartiendo las conversaciones que entablan los personajes de Der Stechlin, vamos entrando en su mundo personal y terminamos por convertirnos en “amigos” de ellos. Esto lleva a revisar nuestras experiencias literarias ordinarias con mirada crítica: ¿qué manera es esa de tratar a una persona? Se sostiene, entonces, que lo que preocupa a Fontane es el peso de las narrativas sociales por encima de la imaginación amistosa, y de ahí que Fontane nos exija ver a estos “amigos” (personajes) sin recurrir a ciertos tipos de narrativas socialmente transmitidas. Leer Der Stechlin invita, así, a no generalizar a las personas apresuradamente, a no entenderlas a partir de ciertos guiones o mitos socialmente establecidos.

Tanto la filosofía como la literatura, en cuanto búsquedas de la verdad, de respuestas frente a un núcleo de preguntas vitales, recurren a una estructura formal que necesariamente es la expresión de una actitud frente a la vida. Se plantea que la forma literaria no puede separarse del contenido filosófico, pues es el resultado de una indagación que intenta dar respuestas a asuntos particulares sobre la vida humana, así como el contenido filosófico halla expresión en una estructura formal que transmite un sentido de la vida. La forma y el contenido no pueden separarse sin fracturar la visión de la vida que ofrecen tanto el texto literario como el texto filosófico. Sin embargo ¿cómo escribir, qué formas, qué estructuras, qué lenguaje utilizar para hablar de asuntos tan particulares como el amor? ¿Hasta dónde es posible escribir filosóficamente sobre la vida y sus interrogantes particulares? ¿Cuáles han sido los aportes de la literatura en la búsqueda de visiones alternativas frente a la experiencia humana? Tal es el punto de partida en la elaboración de este ensayo que intenta, por lo demás, concederle a la literatura y a sus formas de expresión, un lugar más central en el campo de la reflexión sobre el sentido de la vida y otros interrogantes importantes acerca de los asuntos humanos.

Emotions shape the landscape of our mental and social lives. Like the “geological upheavals” a traveler might discover in a landscape where recently only a flat plane could be seen, they mark our lives as uneven, uncertain, and prone to reversal. Why and how? Is it because emotions are animal energies or impulses that have no connection with our thoughts, imaginings, and appraisals? In the passage from which my title is taken, Proust denies this, calling the emotions “geological upheavals of thought.” In other words, what changes the Baron’s mind from a flat plane into a mountain range is not some subterranean jolt, but the thoughts he has about Charlie Morel, a person who has suddenly become central to his well-being, and whom he sees as inscrutable, undependable, and utterly beyond his control. It is these thoughts about value and importance that make his mind project outward like a mountain range, rather than sitting inert in self-satisfied ease.

Growing out of Nussbaum's years of work with an international development agency connected with the United Nations, this collection charts a feminism that is deeply concerned with the urgent needs of women who live in hunger and illiteracy, or under unequal legal systems. Offering an internationalism informed by development economics and empirical detail, many essays take their start from the experiences of women in developing countries. Nussbaum argues for a universal account of human capacity and need, while emphasizing the essential role of knowledge of local circumstance. Further chapters take on the pursuit of social justice in the sexual sphere, exploring the issue of equal rights for lesbians and gay men.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca—whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson—to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities. _ Anger, Mercy, Revenge _comprises three key writings: the moral essays _On Anger_ and _On Clemency_—which were penned as advice for the then young emperor, Nero—and the _Apocolocyntosis_, a brilliant satire lampooning the end of the reign of Claudius. Friend and tutor, as well as philosopher, Seneca welcomed the age of Nero in tones alternately serious, poetic, and comic—making _Anger, Mercy, Revenge_ a work just as complicated, astute, and ambitious as its author

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Amicus BriefMartha C. Nussbaumii. summary of the argumentThis brief argues that the law requires reformation to protect our modern scientific and philosophical understanding that many animals can live their own meaningful lives and that the Court should reform the law in this case.1 Modern science demonstrates that elephants are complex beings that can form a conception of the self, as observed by Judge Fahey, form strong social and emotional bonds among themselves and others, and that the Zoo's conduct harms Happy in both physical and intangible ways.Furthermore, this brief argues that the lower courts in Lavery I and II applied the wrong philosophical framework to the question of whether certain non-human animals should be considered legal persons. Instead of animal rights being based on the capacity to engage in a social contract and to bear legal duties, the proper framework for animal rights is the capabilities approach, which asks how the law can help animals like Happy not only live but thrive. Accordingly, this brief explains the importance of this appeal, the Court's opportunity to reform [End Page 15] the field of animal law, and the potential to release Happy from a life of captivity, ensuring she lives the rest of her life in a manner that respects her capabilities.iii. argument1. This Case Matters Because It Is Time to Reform the Law to Protect Our Modern Scientific and Philosophical Understanding That Many Animals Are Capable of Living Their Own Meaningful LivesModern science now recognizes a very important fact about many animals, including elephants. They are not merely biological units that simply need food and a suitable environment to survive and maintain a viable population. Today, scientists view many animals as beings capable of living their own meaningful lives. Early Indian and Roman cultures understood the complexity of animal lives and the implications of this complexity surrounding the humane treatment of animals; public awareness of this fact is widespread today. Almost all ancient Greek and Roman philosophical schools attributed complex forms of cognition and numerous emotions to animals,2 a precursor to our current laws against cruel practices to animals.What philosophy and, more recently, science have understood but the law has not, is that elephants are sentient beings who can feel emotion, foster relationships, create communities, and form a conception of the self. Our current legal system fails to respect species-specific, central capabilities. Although each of the fifty states has animal cruelty laws,3 these laws protect only a small number of animals and fail to constrain, to any meaningful extent, the widespread infliction of suffering. They ban only the intentional, purposeful suffering of some animals, and fail to recognize the impact that captivity, lack of relationships, and solitude cause a creature like Happy.This Court has the opportunity to create legal precedent that provides these living creatures the legal right to thrive and survive in ways that coincide with their specific capabilities, and prevent not only the infliction of physical pain, but emotional and psychological injury as well.2. The Magical Lives of ElephantsElephants are cognitive, complex creatures with distinct societies, emotions, and lives. They form societies that foster the wellbeing of each member, in which their emotions and development from childhood through adulthood are readily apparent.4 A combat staged between humans and elephants in 55 B.C. by the Roman leader Pompey paints a prime example of these complex emotions and connections with other animals, namely humans. Surrounded in the arena, the elephants perceived that they had no hope of escape. According to Pliny, the elephants then "entreated the crowd, trying to win its compassion with indescribable [End Page 16] gestures, bewailing their plight with a sort of lamentation."5 The audience, moved to pity and anger by their plight, rose to curse Pompey—feeling, wrote Cicero, that the elephants had a relation of commonality (societas) with humans.6 However, this connection with humans cannot be substituted for true, similar companionship from other elephants, which Happy has lacked for almost two decades.Elephants' ability to connect with other elephants and animals may be attributable to their long life spans; they are the most...

This chapter discusses the application of the capabilities approach to the question of animal rights. It explains that this approach provides better theoretical guidance on the issue of animal entitlements over contractarian and utilitarian approaches because it is capable of recognising a wide range of types of animal dignity and of corresponding needs for flourishing. The chapter criticises the view of philosopher Immanuel Kant and his followers that mistreatment of animals does not raise questions of justice and suggests that the claims of animals should be rooted in an understanding of what sorts of capabilities animals have.