Chapter 8 - Nussbaum and Global Justice: Cosmopolitanism, Material Aid and Immigration

Summary

Nussbaum is and always has been a universalist. She holds that there is such a thing as human nature and that – although plastic and alterable – it is pretty much the same everywhere. She proposed a cosmopolitan theory of education in Cultivating Humanity (1997). Her capabilities approach is predicated on the claims that we all have a need to flourish; that what counts as flourishing is essentially the same across cultures; and that we all have an equal right to be given the opportunities to do so. Throughout her career she has argued for the principle of equal human worth and dignity – and she has put in practical efforts to achieve this in her position as a research adviser at the World Institute for Development Economics Research and in her development work in India. Nussbaum wrote about global justice explicitly in Frontiers of Justice (2006). Much of that book is concerned with bringing disabled people and non-human animals, who, Nussbaum argues, are neglected by a contractarian approach, fully into the moral fold. But the problem of economic inequalities among nations is addressed too. She argues that neither a contractarian nor a utilitarian approach is a satisfactory framework for eliminating unjust global economic inequalities. Instead, she recommends application of her and Sen's capabilities approach. To put this into practice she suggests ten principles. They include the principle that each nation-state has its own responsibility to provide the capabilities, at least at threshold level – but this, Nussbaum, argues, does not obviate the need for richer nations to provide economic aid to poorer ones. And so another, important, principle states that ‘Prosperous nations have a responsibility to give a substantial portion of their GDP to poorer nations ’ (Nussbaum 2006: 316, italics in original). The figure she suggests is 2 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product). There is little on how these principles are to be implemented. The role of philosophy is to determine what the principles should be; when it comes to implementation, ‘philosophy must turn the job over to other disciplines’ (2006: 323). Nussbaum concludes the book by saying: ‘Here I have offered only a sketch of what this approach might ultimately say. But even a sketch is a step forward, on the way to a fully global theory of justice’ (2006: 407).