How can higher education today create a community of critical thinkers that transcends the boundaries of class, gender, and nation? Martha 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.

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

The best answer to attacks on multiculturalism can be found in Martha C. Nussbaum’s Cultivating Humanity. The book is a passionate, closely argued and classical defense of multiculturalism: drawing on the ideas of Socrates, the Stoics and Seneca (from whom she derives her title), she steers a narrow course between cranky traditionalists and anti-Western radicals who would reject her Socratic method out of hand… [The] book is a formidable, perhaps definitive defense of diversity on American campuses.

If Socrates had come back to help us think through the culture wars, he would have written Martha Nussbaum's brilliant, grounded book. -- Vartan Gregorian, President Emeritus, Brown University Martha Nussbaum has skillfully used her familiarity with the classics of Western philosophy, particularly the ideas of Socrates and Seneca, to demonstrate both the educational aptness and the imperative importance of the study of non-Western cultures, gender, and race in liberal education today. Her study provides an excellent refutation of the views of those who would mummify the great authors of the past instead of learning and teaching in their true and timeless spirit. This is a valuable guidebook for educating "citizens of the world." -- Nannerl O. Keohane, President, Duke University Cultivating Humanity is as important a book on the nature and needs of higher education as I have read in the past decade. Deeply grounded in classical thought, it demonstrates a remarkable openness to the ongoing experience of human history and culture. This is a book not only of luminous intelligence, but of compassion and love. -- J. Robert Barth, S.J., Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College Martha Nussbaum defends a Socratic view of education, which places the examined life at its heart. Her vision also has elements rooted in Stoic cosmopolitanism and stresses the centrality of the ability to think what it might be like to be in the shoes of a person different from oneself. Because she is not only a fine philosopher but also a distinguished classicist, Nussbaum roots her argument in a serious defense of the deep continuing relevance of classics. This is a marvelous book, which should be read by all who care about the present and the future of the university. -- K. Anthony Appiah, Professor of Afro-American Studies and Philosophy, Harvard University This is a vital, timely, and much needed contribution to the debate on the nature of undergraduate education. Few people are more qualified than Martha Nussbaum to write on this topic. Here she manages to combine a fine appreciation of what the past teaches us, and what we need to create for the future of liberal education. -- Walter E. Massey, President, Morehouse College