Synopsis
An argument that social-contract theories fail people with disabilities, animals, and the global poor, and that a capabilities approach better captures what justice owes everyone.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workJustice should be measured by what each person is actually able to do and to be, not by a bargain struck between roughly equal contracting parties.
It exposes how mutual-advantage contract theory quietly excludes those who cannot reciprocate, and offers human dignity as the better foundation.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with John Rawls, A Theory of Justice.
Reading note
Read it as a friendly critique of contractarianism, watching where Nussbaum thinks Rawls cannot reach.
Best paired with
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice