Martha Nussbaum, a philosophy, classics and comparative literature professor at Brown University, presented a lecture titled "Citizens of the World: a Classical Defense of Radical Reform in Higher Education" last Thursday in Carpenter Hall.
Author of six books and editor or co-editor of eight others, Nussbaum received her B.A. degree at New York University and her Ph.D. at Harvard University, where she also taught for eight years.
Drawing from classical literature and personal experience, Nussbaum spoke about her theories for an intellectual education. "Three capacities are essential to the college graduate," she said. "Critical examination of oneself and one's own culture, seeing oneself as a citizen of the world and literary imagination."
Socrates and the stoic philosophy stressed the first two points. According to Nussbaum, the stoics structured education to encourage students to scrutinize their own beliefs and investigate the societies of others to see similarities and differences.
"Socrates would like today's ferment of campus life," Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum quoted Diogenes the Cynic, saying "I am a citizen of the world." Emphasizing that people should appreciate their own background as well as world culture, Nussbaum used the image of concentric circles to explain her view.
The inner circle represented the self, the next circle stood for the family and was drawn inside circles for the town, the country and the outermost ring -- which represented the world.
"Don't give up identity and ethnicity, but work to make all people part of your community," she said.
She encouraged people to debate and discuss characteristics of individual cultures but not to rank them superior to one another. She used her experience working with a citizen of Bangladesh as an example.
The two often did not get along because of Nussbaum's liberal background and the Bangladeshi's conservative paradigm, which included the limitation of women's rights. But by the time they finished working together, both had learned a great deal about the other and were better able to understand one another's heritage and philosophies, Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum also talked about using narrative literature to teach students about the world. She felt that people learn a great deal from storytelling and become better able to cultivate ideas and ask questions. "Through narration, an [individual] can learn about him or herself," she said.
She said the literature should include novels written from the standpoint of characters very different from the reader, which she said would help students identify with foreigners. "Vivid imaging of the different is essential," she said.
Nussbaum praised cultural classes and diversification. "Awareness of social difference is essential to thoughtful conversation and debate," she said. She said she foresees a curriculum including classes exploring the art history, morals, rituals and sexual roles of various cultures.
Although excited by the thought of this type of curriculum, Nussbaum said she realized the difficulty in creating one. She explained that colleges would need to buy new books and hire new professors or finance training for old ones.
To facilitate the establishment of such an educational program, she said, interested students and faculty should demand it. With their help, cultural requirements in the curriculum and spending for literature and class-time could expand.
