The moral philosopher Martha C. Nussbaum talks to TIME about her new book, The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis, the right way to be angry and what Americans fear.

You began your new book,
 The Monarchy of Fear, when the 2016 election left you feeling that fear was “suffusing” society. Was the fear there all along?

Fear is ubiquitous in human life. It starts in infancy with our primal state of helplessness, where we can see what’s going on but we can’t move to get it. As we grow older we become a little more able to get what we want but then we’re going to die so that gives fear another boost. But it’s heightened when there’s a threat. In this situation it’s the combination of extreme polarization, where people are buffeted by conflicting views, and conditions — such as automation, outsourcing and globalization — that make people whose living standards have dropped feel a sense of acute powerlessness.

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