A review by flijn
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities by Martha C. Nussbaum

4.0

Democracies have great rational and imaginative powers. They also are prone to some serious flaws in reasoning, to parochialism, haste, sloppiness, selfishness, narrowness of spirit. Education based mainly on profitability in the global market magnifies these deficiencies, producing a greedy obtuseness and a technically trained docility that threaten the very life of democracy itself, and that certainly impede the creation of a decent world culture.
(p. 142)

Nussbaum doesn't hold back in this manifesto for the humanities. Her message is clear: humanities are at the center of an education that prepares humans for being critical, empathic members of pluralistic democracies, but they are under constant threat of a narrow view of education that reduces its value to its short-term, financial profit.

Liberal arts aren't the frivolous extras for wealthy elites who don't have to worry about the next paycheck; they are essential for every individual and society as a whole, lest we snuff out the soul, creativity, play, and critical thinking that makes humans more than smart machines. Liberal arts isn't (just) high brow academic discussions on literature or Hegelian philosophy; it is democratic in nature, allowing children from an early age to express themselves and listen and understand the Other through a Socratic method and through direct experience. By communicating, questioning, writing, dancing, listening... in other words, by actively engaging with new ideas, images, narratives and people, they internalize a sensitivity for how diverse the human experience is.

Nussbaum's writing deals with great and abstract ideas. It is clear, opinionated, and filled with inspiring examples. Writing in 2020, when prejudice, intolerance, polarization and mistrust of science and journalism illustrate a staggering lack of empathy and critical thinking, it's hard not to agree. Then again, I would say that, wouldn't I, with my liberal arts degree and my work in civics education.

That is to say, I wonder how persuasive this book is to people who don't already agree that the humanities have an important role to play in the protection of democracy.

In her aftwerword to the paperback edition, the author notes she is somewhat more hopeful because she met so many people from all over the world who passionately defend the humanities and come up with new initiatives. The book has helped these people make their case to less-than-enthousiastic administrators, bureaucrats or governments. I believe that this is one of the greatest values of this book; not necessarily to convince everyone, but to inspire those that care for the liberal arts to feel inspired and empowered to continue striving for the best enriching education for all children.