International Journal of Creative and Arts Studies (Dec 2019)
From Imagination to Compassion and Democracy: Martha Nussbaum on the Role of Art
Abstract
It is undeniable that most of our modern universities are portraying themselves as factory-like institutions which manufacture useful knowledge. The term “useful knowledge” refers to a type of knowledge which directly has immediate payoff and practically commodifiable. Most modern universities are no longer spotlighted as the generator of new knowledge, the influential bodies in civic life and nation-state, the greatest critics of public policies, but reduced to and figuring as a major agent of economic growth. Posting economic growth as the model for universities is a form of corporatism in higher education level. Art disciplines, as a part of humanities, are inevitably framed by such a model. In which, art is understood as a mere aesthetic commodity and the artist is seen as a mechanical subject to be manipulated by profit motifs. This view has been well prevailing, but it is not incontestable. This paper is written as an attempt to critically respond towards such prevailing corporatist view. To do that, the author borrows some philosophical perspectives from an American philosopher, Martha C. Nussbaum (1947–now). Her philosophical accounts on art, imagination, and compassion as a form of distinctive moral emotion are considerably an adversary to the current perspective of art education which has been colonized by corporatism. From her perspective, more than just a mere commodity, art has a significant role in upholding democracy. Art has the power to nurture compassion, in which respect and concern for others are inherent. Respect and concern are the vital-ethical ingredients for democracy. One particular art form which, according to Nussbaum, can nurture compassion, intensively, is a tragedy. Through which, we shall see other people as human beings, not as objects of manipulation. Such philosophical views of hers may re-attune our current perspective on art education.
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