For Nussbaum, objectification is a necessary condition for an action to be morally wrong.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The statement to evaluate is: 'For Nussbaum, objectification is a necessary condition for an action to be morally wrong.'

To begin, recall what Nussbaum emphasizes in her philosophical work on feminism and ethics. She treats objectification as a serious form of harm that undermines a person’s autonomy and dignity, often by treating someone as a means to an end or as an object rather than a full moral agent. This makes certain actions that involve objectification morally problematic and wrong from her perspective.

However, the key issue is whether objectification is a necessary condition for wrongdoing. Under this view, an action could be morally wrong for reasons other than objectification, such as causing unjust harm, violating rights, or failing to honor autonomy, even if the victim is not objectified. For instance, harming someone or infringing on their rights could be wrong for reasons unrelated to whether the person is treated as an object.

Therefore, the claim that objectification is a necessary condition for moral wrongness commits the fallacy of dependency on a single factor. Nussbaum’s account allows for multiple moral wrongs that may or may not involve objectification, and some wrongful actions may be driven by harm, coercion, or exploitation without the explicit phenomenology of objectification.

Concretely, one can imagine scenarios where harm is done under conditions that do not reduce a person to an object (e.g., a policy that inadvertently harms a group) or where objectification is present but the action is not morally wrong (e.g., certain fictional contexts or ironic uses) depending on interpretation. This indicates that while objectification is a morally salient concern for Nussbaum, it is not generally treated as a universal or necessary condition for wrongness across all cases.

In sum, the claim is incorrect because Nussbaum does not frame objectification as a necessary condition for moral wrongness; she views it as a significant and harmful phenomenon, but wrongness can arise from other moral violations that do not hinge on objectification.

PHI 007Y A01 WQ 2025 Final Exam

For Nussbaum, objectification is a necessary condition for an action to be morally wrong.

View Explanation

Log in for full answers

Similar Questions

According to Nussbaum, instrumentality does not entail failing to have considerations or feelings for the objectified.

According to Nussbaum (discussing Marx), the objectification of workers in a capitalist society exhibits instrumentality.

'Complimentarity' is not one of Nussbaum's 7 types of objectification.

According to Nussbaum (discussing Marx), the objectification of workers in a capitalist society exhibits instrumentality.

According to Nussbaum, treating things as objects is sufficient for objectification.

According to Nussbaum, slavery does not involve objectification by inertness.

According to Nussbaum, instrumentality does not entail failing to have considerations or feelings for the objectified.

For Nussbaum, objectification is a necessary condition for an action to be morally wrong.

More Practical Tools for Students Powered by AI Study Helper

Homework AI Solver

Stylized AI Paper Writer

Plagiarism Checker Assistant

Citation AI Academic Writing Tool

In-Class Translation Assistant

AI Note Generator

AI Quiz Answers

Past Exam Questions from University Test Bank

Smart Practice Assistant

Adaptive Practice

Making Your Study Simpler