Cultivating humanity : a classical defense of reform in liberal education / Martha C. Nussbaum.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-320) and index.

Introduction: The Old Education and the Think-Academy -- Ch. 1. Socratic Self-Examination -- Ch. 2. Citizens of the World -- Ch. 3. The Narrative Imagination -- Ch. 4. The Study of Non-Western Cultures -- Ch. 5. African-American Studies -- Ch. 6. Women's Studies -- Ch. 7. The Study of Human Sexuality -- Ch. 8. Socrates in the Religious University -- Conclusion: The "New" Liberal Education.

How can higher education today create a community of critical thinkers and searchers for truth that transcends the boundaries of class, gender, and nation? Martha C. Nussbaum, philosopher and classicist, argues that contemporary curricular reform is already producing such "citizens of the world" in its advocacy of diverse forms of cross-cultural studies.

Drawing on Socrates and the Stoics, Nussbaum establishes three core values of liberal education - critical self-examination, the ideal of the world citizen, and the development of the narrative imagination. Then, taking us into classrooms and campuses across the nation, including prominent research universities, small independent colleges, and religious institutions, she shows how these values are (and in some instances are not) being embodied in particular courses.

She defends such burgeoning subject areas as gender, minority, and gay studies against charges of moral relativism and low standards, and underscores their dynamic and fundamental contribution to critical reasoning and world citizenship.