Martha Nussbaum: 'For a politics of humanism'

'For a politics of humanism'

A prodigious scholar who has published innumerable books and articles, Martha Nussbaum has made landmark contributions in the field of moral and political philosophy, sexuality, justice, human development and religion. She is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago and is appointed in the law school and philosophy department. She is also member of the Committee on South Asian studies. Her recent books include Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice (2013), The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age (2012) and Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (2010). In an email interview to Rajgopal Saikumar, Professor Nussbaum discusses politico-legal treatment of sexual minorities and the ideals of humanism, including the treatment of crime with a rational spirit.

You have written extensively about the politics of disgust as opposed to the ideals of humanism. How would you characterise the politico-legal treatment of sexual minorities in India within such a frame?

I think that there is a struggle going on, both in Indian society and in the Indian judiciary, between a view of sexual minorities based upon disgust (and modelled on Victorian British Puritanism and not at all on older Indian traditions) and a humanistic morality based on ideas of equality, dignity and inclusiveness. The Delhi High Court in the Naz case articulated the latter vision beautifully; the two-judge panel of the Supreme Court that heard the appeal negated that vision and reinstated (with approving reference to Macauley!) the puritanical British vision. Then, in April 2014, a different two-judge panel of the Supreme Court, hearing a case relating to transgender persons, once again affirmed the inclusive and respectful vision, giving transgender persons a range of new rights. Society as a whole is similarly conflicted.

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