Response to Martha C. Nussbaum's Public Philosophy and International Feminism, ©1998
Philosopher: Friend or Foe
"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime."
-Ancient Chinese Philosopher, Lao Tzu
Where do philosophers fit within the political decision making process? This question is explored and discussed by Martha Nussbaum.1 It can be argued that philosophers present esoteric discussions that provoke and generally slow down decision making processes. However, good decisions should be based not just on hard data but on exploration of capability married with an environment2 that promotes an individual's ability to function, or choose to function.
If we look at the prevailing paradigm in education (at the political level), there is an emphasis on achieving the "hard" skills for success in a particular field. This long accepted belief that given the skills, one can do anything is a generalization based on fact. Many of the funding decisions made about education are focused on well-documented statistics about the needs of various industries. The decision to spend funds on developing capability is not bad one. Often there are time constraints, usually imposed by government fiscal responsibilities, and the need to respond quickly to current demand. Those constraints are acceptable but they do not allow for exploration of how increased capability can be limited by the environment of the beneficiary; factors that limit functionality.
Nussbaum's paper talks about overcoming the limiting factors of social and cultural traditions to allow an Indian woman to make the choice to utilize her capacity. She supports the role of the philosopher in the decision making process be ...