#309 — Vulnerability, Politics, and Moral Worth

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Martha C. Nussbaum about her philosophical work. They discuss the relevance of philosophy to personal and political problems, the influence of religion, the problem of dogmatism, the importance of Greek and Roman philosophy for modern thought, the Stoic view of emotions, anger and retribution, deterrence, moral luck, sexual harassment, the philosophical significance of Greek tragedy, grief, human and animal flourishing, the "capabilities approach" to valuing conscious life, the rightness or wrongness of moral hierarchies, "the fragility of goodness," and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're
0:12.1	hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber feed and will only be hearing
0:16.2	the first part of this conversation. In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense
0:20.7	Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at samharis.org. There you'll find our private RSS feed
0:26.1	to add to your favorite pod catcher, along with other subscriber-only content. We don't run ads
0:31.2	on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support of our subscribers.
0:35.8	So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one.
0:46.7	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast. This is Sam Harris.
0:49.6	Okay, lock on on in the world. I think I will save the topical stuff for the next podcast.
1:00.0	I have an episode of that sort scheduled, but today we're talking about the more ancient
1:05.7	questions of philosophy and human vulnerability, because today I'm speaking with Martha Nusbaum.
1:13.7	Martha is a professor of law and ethics in the philosophy department and law school at the
1:18.6	University of Chicago. She has won many prizes, including the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy,
1:26.6	the Bergruin Prize in Philosophy and Culture, the Holberg Prize, and these are among the
1:32.7	prizes that are regarded as most prestigious for those who are not infields eligible for Nobel
1:39.4	prizes. She has written more than 22 books, including upheavals of thought, anger and forgiveness,
1:46.5	not for profit, the monarchy of fear, and most recently justice for animals are collective
1:54.5	responsibility. Of long been wanting to get Martha on the podcast, she's certainly one of the most
2:00.2	well-regarded living philosophers, and we cover a lot in this conversation. It has the quality of a
2:08.6	debate at points, especially in the second half. We talk about the relevance of philosophy to personal
2:17.0	and political problems, the influence of religion, the problem of dogmatism, the relevance of
2:23.8	Greek and Roman philosophy to modern thought, the stoic view of emotions, anger and retribution,
	...

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