From Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education, excerpted in the Norton Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 2018 edition
On what grounds does Nussbaum defend the teaching of literature? What ideals or guidelines for this practice does she suggest? (should include works from several cultures to create "cosmopolitan" approach)
With what methodology does she approach texts? (seeks out high points, exempla, as in Matthew Arnold's "the best that has been thought and said in the world") Does this differ from the methodology usually used in departments of literature? Why may this be the case? What are its limits?
What literary schools or fashions does she dislike, and why? (identity politics)
Are attempts to consider "identity politics" inconsistent with the goal of producing a cosmopolitan citizenship?
What is Nussbaum's view of the relationship between democracy and a liberal education? Do you agree?
What context made/makes it necessary to defend the teaching of literature as a public good?