Nussbaum Marta

American philosopher, specialist in ancient philosophy, professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago. She was born in New York City into the family of lawyer George Craven and interior designer Betty Warren. From early childhood, the girl wanted to achieve everything on her own: she flatly rejected her aristocratic upbringing and the need to associate with people of her own class. After graduating from school, Martha entered New York University, where she studied classical literature and theater arts. Her interest in philosophy awoke in her final years, and deciding to continue studying this field, she entered Harvard University, where in 1972 she earned a master’s degree in philosophy and three years later, in 1975, became a Doctor of Philosophy. Around the same time, Martha married Alan Nussbaum; during their marriage, which ended in 1987, they had a daughter, Rachel, who is now a professor of history at Evergreen State College. According to Martha herself, one of the main decisions in her life was undergoing giur, that is, converting to Judaism. Despite the fact that her scholarly view in many ways differs from the main interpretations of the Tanakh, she nevertheless believes that the philosophy of Judaism in many respects opened her eyes to a modern understanding of the world and of the human being. The early period of her scholarly activity was marked by a heightened interest in ancient philosophy; however, Professor Nussbaum gradually became interested in social philosophy. Drawing on Diogenes’ famous saying, “I am a citizen of the world,” she began to examine two completely different concepts, “patriotism” and “cosmopolitanism,” which in liberal American society, oriented toward its own national consciousness, seemed simply meaningless. Nevertheless, her work Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism convincingly argued for the relevance of the second concept, so alien to a rather intolerant American society. In her other work, Sex and Social Justice, published in 1998, Martha Nussbaum launches a criticism of liberal democracy, which had already taken a beating after the well-known article The End of History and the Last Man by American political scientist and philosopher Francis Fukuyama. Martha criticizes liberalism because, while granting equal rights to all members of society and also taking into account the interests of third parties, it infringes on the rights of minorities that do not fit into the overall structure of society. Thus, for example, in the work she asks why it is considered reasonable to