The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis

Written by Martha C. Nussbaum

Narrated by Amanda Carlin

From one of the world’s most celebrated moral philosophers comes a thorough examination of the current political crisis and recommendations for how to mend our divided country.

For decades Martha C. Nussbaum has been an acclaimed scholar and humanist, earning dozens of honors for her books and essays. In The Monarchy of Fear she turns her attention to the current political crisis that has polarized American since the 2016 election.

Although today’s atmosphere is marked by partisanship, divisive rhetoric, and the inability of two halves of the country to communicate with one another, Nussbaum focuses on what so many pollsters and pundits have overlooked. She sees a simple truth at the heart of the problem: the political is always emotional. Globalization has produced feelings of powerlessness in millions of people in the West. That sense of powerlessness bubbles into resentment and blame. Blame of immigrants. Blame of Muslims. Blame of other races. Blame of cultural elites. While this politics of blame is exemplified by the election of Donald Trump and the vote for Brexit, Nussbaum argues it can be found on all sides of the political spectrum, left or right.

Drawing on a mix of historical and contemporary examples, from classical Athens to the musical Hamilton, The Monarchy of Fear untangles this web of feelings and provides a roadmap of where to go next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jul 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781508255765

Martha C. Nussbaum

Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department and the Law School of the University of Chicago. She gave the 2016 Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities and won the 2016 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy. The 2018 Berggruen Prize in Philosophy and Culture, and the 2020 Holberg Prize. These three prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards available in fields not eligible for a Nobel. She has written more than twenty-two books, including Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions; Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice; Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities; and The Monarchy of Fear.

Reviews for The Monarchy of Fear

[Bill Weckel · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

TLDR verion: Martha Nussbaum calls attention to the obvious. Save yourself some time and skip this one.

[steve02476 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nussbaum is obviously a great thinker, but this book seemed an unfocused mishmash to me. I didn’t like the way she combined analytic psychiatric ideas with philosophy. There were definitely provocative and interesting ideas in there but I didn’t think the book as a whole was well done.

[azrail-208236 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Initially holds a promise of something much more ambitious: examination of how our pure animal nature - as it has evolved over the millennia - informs what we see today in our communal and political practices (an amalgam of biology, psychology and political theory). But ultimately one is reminded of that sigh of the mother from "Boyhood": "I thought there would be more". One ends up with an impression of collection of aphorisms from a fortune cookie.

[francesanngray · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading this this week, when the world, and especially the US, is in the grip of mortal fear of the coronavirus and its societal effects, has been particularly thought-provoking.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fear is basic. Unlike virtually all other creatures, humans are born helpless. Our first response to the world outside the womb is fear. It is fear and our overwhelming desire for release from fear that drives us to treat all about us as slaves to do our bidding. To feed us, warm us, clean us, protect us. Fear rules. Later, of course, most of us develop more complex responses to our environment. The full range of the emotions flourish. Fear is held in check. Always present but not always dominant. At least not in our best selves. But fear reasserts itself in anger, disgust, envy, and misogyny as Nussbaum patiently reveals. It is a promising analysis of the current political malaise to which Nussbaum offers hope and love as the remedy, drawing heavily on the examples of Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Ghandi.As ever, Nussbaum’s analysis is rooted in her comprehensive familiarity with ancient philosophy. Here it is Lucretius on whom she most heavily draws, with many a nod to Socrates via Plato, Cicero, and others. Of modern philosophers her most frequent referent is Rousseau and of contemporary philosophers John Rawls. But philosophy is merely one of the disciplines on which she relies. Indeed a substantial portion of her argument finds inspiration in the work of early childhood development psychologists and other scientists studying the emotions. The writing is fresh and engaging, sometimes almost startlingly embedded with points from Nussbaum’s own personal experience (her father was a racist with anti-Semitic leanings). It does not shy away from the worst of what is happening in the upper echelons of power in America, but it also does not merely bewail the present state. It seeks to understand but also to propose alternatives.The role of the public intellectual is rarely an easy one, whether in America or in Europe. The move from pedant to pedagog to professor to policy wonk to pundit is fraught with innumerable occasions on which one’s peers will declare one to be irrelevant. Martha Nussbaum’s career is exemplary in this regard; she has weathered numerous broadsides. Yet her willingness to engage rationally with all arguments, to base her opinions on deep historical and philosophical learning, and to be, perhaps, hopelessly optimistic, mark her as one of those few philosophers who actually practise what their philosophical study guides them to recommend to others. I confess, I’m less optimistic, and I don’t have a lifetime of public service behind me (she might argue that those two points are related), but I admire her example and wish I were better able to follow it.Recommended.