We should not feel pity for those who suffer; we should feel compassion, which involves regarding their well-being as our own concern.
Philosophers
Martha Nussbaum
Leading American ethicist and classicist (1947- ), Distinguished Service Professor at Chicago. Co-architect with Amartya Sen of the capability approach; recipient of the Kyoto Prize (2016) and Holberg Prize (2021).
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Source: Upheavals of Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2001)Verified
Martha Nussbaum's Other Quotes
To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control.
Compassion is the basic social emotion.
The capabilities approach starts not from a hypothetical state of nature but from the question: what does a life worthy of human dignity require?