The Development of Unity

Abstract

Martha Nussbaum’s list of the 10 central capabilities contains the most plausible account of valuable functionings that we have. In this lecture, I explore how Nussbaum’s account converges with the deepest explanation of what is intrinsically valuable—what is good in itself. This exploration shows how Nussbaum’s account tracks the same logic of value that we find in many of the world’s great philosophical traditions. What all of these philosophers are telling us is that goodness is unity: unity with the world, with each other, and within ourselves.

Keywords:

• Nussbaum
• Capabilities
• Philosophy
• Intrinsic value
• Desire

This article refers to:

Comments on Leif Wenar's Nussbaum Lecture, “The Development of Unity”

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express sincere gratitude to the Human Development Capability Association, and especially to Ingrid Robeyns and Sridhar Venkatapuram, for the invitation to present the Nussbaum Lecture. It is an honour to be associated in this way with Martha Nussbaum, whose brilliance, breadth, acuity, and humanity are a continuing inspiration to me and so many others. Thanks to Jay Drydyk for his excellent commentary in London, and thanks to Elaine Unterhalter for the warm hospitality during the event.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

About the Author

Leif Wenar is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. He is the author of Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence, and the Rules that Run the World and an editor of Giving Well: The Ethics of Philanthropy. Among his articles on development are “Accountability in International Development Aid” and “Poverty is no Pond: Challenges for the Affluent.”

Notes

1 One might attempt the objection that Moore’s view of sex is unreasonable, yet then we will need to know what sense of “unreasonable” is meant. Moore is not likely to have been “unreasonable” in Rawls’s sense: Rawls’s sense turns on a citizen’s unwillingness to propose and abide by fair terms of cooperation. On Rawls’s understanding of the reasonable, see Wenar (1995).

2 Online Etymology Dictionary (2020) (referring to the proto-Indo-European root “ghedh-”).