How can higher education today create a community of critical thinkers and searchers for the truth that transcends the boundaries of class, gender and nation? In this book the author argues that contemporary curricular reform is already producing such "citizens of the world" in its advocacy of diverse forms of cross-cultural studies. Nussbaum's defence of "the new education" is rooted in Seneca's ideal of the citizen who scrutinizes tradition critically and who respects the ability to reason wherever it is found, in rich or poor, native or foreigner, female or male. Drawing on Socrates and the Stoics, the author establishes three core values of liberal education: critical self-examination, the ideal of the world citizen and the development of the narrative imagination. Then taking the reader to a variety of classrooms and campuses, Nussbaum aims to show how these values are being embodied in particular courses. She defends such courses as gender, minority and gay studies against charges of moral relativism and low standards, and underscores their dynamic and fundamental contribution to critical reasoning and world citizenship. Nussbaum aims to show that liberal education is alive and well on American campuses and is not only viable and constructive, but essential to a democratic society.

玛莎·纳斯鲍姆（Martha C,Nussbaum） “新斯多葛派”的政治和道德哲学家，在哈佛大学获得博士学位，曾先后任教于哈佛大学、布朗大学和牛津大学，现为芝加哥大学法学和伦理学教授。2003年美国《新政治家》杂志列出的“我们时代十二位伟大思想家”，纳斯鲍姆就是其中之一。她还担任了美国哲学协会中部分会的主席，在美国国内外都是极富影响的思想家。