Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
APCIEU partners with UNESCO MGIEP for the The 10th International Conference on Global Citizenship Education to be held on 27–28 August 2025 in Seoul
Menu

Tip: Use @ to search articles by an author

Third Distinguished Lecture by Prof. Martha Nussbaum on ‘Anger and Revolutionary Justice’

21 March 2015: When there is great injustice, it is very tempting to think that righteous anger is the best response, and even a necessary response. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the three most successful revolutionary freedom movements in the past century have been conducted in a spirit of non-anger.

When there is great injustice, it is very tempting to think that righteous anger is the best response, and even a necessary response. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the three most successful revolutionary freedom movements in the past century have been conducted in a spirit of non-anger (distinct from, though sometimes joined to, non-violence): Gandhi’s independence movement, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s role in the U. S. civil rights movement, and Nelson Mandela’s freedom movement in South Africa. Studying the thought and practice of these three leaders, I argue that non-anger is both normatively and practically superior to anger, and that an analysis of the structure of the emotion can help us to a deeper understanding of why this is so. 

Event details

Location: The University of Chicago Center in Delhi, Baba Kharak Singh Marg

Schedule: 21 March 2015, 17.00-18.30 (IST). High tea will be served after the event.

The speaker

Prof. Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. She is also an Associate Member in Classics, Divinity, and Political Science, a Member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies, the Coordinator of the Center for Comparative Constitutionalism, and a board member of the Human Rights Program.

Nussbaum received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Prior to joining the University of Chicago faculty, she was a University Professor at Brown University. From 1986 to 1993 she was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, a branch of the United Nations University, where she worked with Amartya Sen to establish the Human Development (or “capabilities”) approach to the measurement of welfare. She and Sen are the two Founding Presidents of the international Human Development and Capability Association, which held its 2008 annual meeting in Delhi.

Her longstanding connection with India includes an appointment as Visiting Professor of Political Science at JNU, a consultancy with the UNDP-Delhi on gender and governance, and work on gender equality and law with The Lawyer’s Collective (Delhi). She is also an honorary Professor of the Institute for Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK). Her book Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach (2000), focuses on the struggle for gender equality in India.

Among her many books, the most recent are Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership(2006), The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future (2007), Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality (2008) and From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law (2010), Not For Profit: Liberal Education and Democratic Citizenship(Princeton, 2010), Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (Harvard, 2011), and Why Love Matters for Justice (2013). She has also edited numerous books, and is currently co-editing with Zoya Hasan of JNU a volume called Equalizing Access: Affirmative Action in Higher Education: India, US, and South Africa (OUP India) deriving from a conference on Affirmative Action and Higher Education co-sponsored by JNU and the University of Chicago.

The UNESCO MGIEP Distinguished Lecture Series

The Distinguished Lecture Series invites speakers from among the world’s leading intellectuals and policymakers to spark transformative ideas for our shared future. In a world of unprecedented complexity, interdependence and opportunity to talk across boundaries, the discourse for the future will have to be led by the world’s brightest minds in dialogue with youth. These Lectures are expected to inspire a larger international dialogue on a more peaceful and sustainable world, built through better education, inclusive spaces, and global citizenship.

Date/Time
Date(s) - 21/03/2015
5:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Location
The University of Chicago Center, Baba Kharak Singh Marg