RELG 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Martha Nussbaum

• School: McGill University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELG 331
• Professor: Samuel Nelson

Document Summary

We always think of a child and someone (child and mother ) the image of a child alone is associated with tragedy. To be fully human is to be able to make rational choices. If she ties humanity to capability there"s an obvious struggle. She says what it means to be human is a capacity to choose and act and she says you have to see some potential for that in children. Human beings are moral agents and children are developing towards that. Treating children with the respect of full humanity is important to her. The condition of vulnerability: human beings exist in a world where they lack capacity for control. Martha refuses to see it just negatively, she talks about vulnerability as a yielding and open posture to the world. not a victim/wounded position, there"s something positive about it. It is a better place to understand what it means to be human.