Chapter 10: Democratic Citizenship and the Narrative Imagination

Abstract

Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of EducationVolume 107, Issue 1 p. 143-157 chapter 10: Democratic Citizenship and the Narrative Imagination Martha C. Nussbaum, Martha C. Nussbaum University of ChicagoSearch for more papers by this author Martha C. Nussbaum, Martha C. Nussbaum University of ChicagoSearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 July 2008 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7984.2008.00138.xCitations: 9 If democratic citizenship involves learning to live with and alongside other people, then an appropriate civic education must foster the capacity to understand people who may act from very different understandings, motives, and capacities. In this chapter, Martha Nussbaum makes an argument for the vital role of the arts, and particularly literature, in cultivating the powers of the imagination which, in turn, contribute to the kind of judgment and sensitivity needed by responsible citizens.She begins her argument by considering two very different literary works: Sophocles’Philoctetes and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, showing how the former concerns the proper treatment of a citizen who has become an outcast and the latter the refusal to recognize a fellow citizen. Both works allow us “to see how circumstances shape the lives of those who share with us some general goals and projects.” Nussbaum explores how the imagination contributes to moral-political development in various ways, using examples from the most democratic of all literary forms, the modern novel. She contends that literature allows us to understand our common humanity, wresting “from our frequently obtuse and blunted imaginations an acknowledgement of those who are other than ourselves, both in concrete circumstances and even in thought and emotion.”Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School. She has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities and was a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, Helsinki, part of the United Nations University. She has received many awards, including honorary degrees from thirty-two colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. Among her many publications are The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (1986, updated edition 2000), Love's Knowledge (1990), Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education (1997), Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (2001), and Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality (2008). Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume107, Issue1April 2008Pages 143-157 RelatedInformation