How can Western political thought engage non-Western cultures if liberalism is--in Thomas Nagel's famous formulation-a view from nowhere? This paper seeks to investigate the philosophical problems at the nexus of mo...How can Western political thought engage non-Western cultures if liberalism is--in Thomas Nagel's famous formulation-a view from nowhere? This paper seeks to investigate the philosophical problems at the nexus of moral relativism and liberal universalism that Martha Nussbaum attempted to come to terms with in her essay Human Functioning and Social Justice: In Defense of Aristotelian Essentialism. I argue not against the idea of essentialism but rather for greater care in the concept's application.展开更多
文摘How can Western political thought engage non-Western cultures if liberalism is--in Thomas Nagel's famous formulation-a view from nowhere? This paper seeks to investigate the philosophical problems at the nexus of moral relativism and liberal universalism that Martha Nussbaum attempted to come to terms with in her essay Human Functioning and Social Justice: In Defense of Aristotelian Essentialism. I argue not against the idea of essentialism but rather for greater care in the concept's application.