The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics

by Martha C. Nussbaum, Martha C. Nussbaum (Introduction)

Overview

The Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics practiced philosophy not as a detached intellectual discipline but as a worldly art of grappling with issues of daily and urgent human significance. In this classic work, Martha Nussbaum maintains that these Hellenistic schools have been unjustly neglected in recent philosophic accounts of what the classical "tradition" has to offer. By examining texts of philosophers such as Epicurus, Lucretius, and Seneca, she recovers a valuable source for current moral and political thought and encourages us to reconsider philosophical argument as a technique through which to improve lives. Written for general readers and specialists, The Therapy of Desire addresses compelling issues ranging from the psychology of human passion through rhetoric to the role of philosophy in public and private life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400831944
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	06/06/2013
Series:	Princeton Classics , #33
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	584
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the Law School and in the Philosophy Department at the University of Chicago. She is the author of many books, including Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (Princeton).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Ch. 1 Therapeutic Arguments

Ch. 2 Medical Dialectic: Aristotle on Theory and Practice

Ch. 3 Aristotle on Emotions and Ethical Health

Ch. 4 Epicurean Surgery: Argument and Empty Desire

Ch. 5 Beyond Obsession and Disgust: Lucretius on the Therapy of Love

Ch. 6 Mortal Immortals: Lucretius on Death and the Voice of Nature

Ch. 7 "By Words, Not Arms": Lucretius on Anger and Aggression

Ch. 8 Skeptic Purgatives: Disturbance and the Life without Belief

Ch. 9 Stoic Tonics: Philosophy and the Self-Government of the Soul

Ch. 10 The Stoics on the Extirpation of the Passions

Ch. 11 Seneca on Anger in Public Life

Ch. 12 Serpents in the Soul: A Reading of Seneca's Medea

Ch. 13 The Therapy of Desire

List of Philosophers and Schools

Bibliography

Index Locorum

General Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Filled with many beautifully written and powerful passages, this book will provoke lively discussion among specialists and show nonspecialists how much there is to be gained from a serious study of this period."—Brad Inwood, University of Toronto

Editorial Reviews

Martha C. Nussbaum, Recipient of the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences

"Nussbaum writes as an advocate [of the Hellenistic philosophers], though not an uncritical one, for even while she admires the seriousness and subtlety with which these philosophers analyze the passions, she allows that there is an unresolvable conflict between the detachment and the intense engagement entailed by their philosophies. The sense that these philosophers still matter, that we can wrangle with them and learn from them, is invigorating."—-Richard Jenkyns, New York Times Book Review

"Few modern books have done as much as this one promises to do in raising the profile of Hellenistic philosophy. It is constantly gripping and absorbing, written with rare eloquence and containing long stretches of almost lyrical intensity. A literary as well as a philosophical tour de force."—-David Sedley, Times Literary Supplement

"By turns wise and witty, silly and Socratic, critical and compassionate, Nussbaum proves to be an extraordinarily addictive literary companion…. This is a book to live with."—-Peter Green, New Republic

"[T]his is a wonderful book, of interest to scholars of ancient philosophy, but also to those interested in medical philosophy and philosophy of mind. It would also be of great interest to those interested in the conception of philosophy as therapy that has grown from studies on Wittgenstein. I can heartily recommend it."—-Michael Gillan Peckitt, Metapsychology Online Reviews

From the Publisher

[T]his is a wonderful book, of interest to scholars of ancient philosophy, but also to those interested in medical philosophy and philosophy of mind. It would also be of great interest to those interested in the conception of philosophy as therapy that has grown from studies on Wittgenstein. I can heartily recommend it.

Metapsychology Online Reviews - Michael Gillan Peckitt

By turns wise and witty, silly and Socratic, critical and compassionate, Nussbaum proves to be an extraordinarily addictive literary companion. . . . This is a book to live with.

New Republic - Peter Green

Nussbaum adventurously straddles boundaries conventionally drawn between philosophy and its own history, between philosophy and literature, and between scholarship and the social sciences. . . . Few modern books have done as much as this one promises to do in raising the profile of Hellenistic philosophy. It is constantly gripping and absorbing, written with rare eloquence and containing long stretches of almost lyrical intensity. A literary as well as a philosophical tour de force.

Times Literary Supplement - David Sedley

[E]ven while she admires the seriousness and subtlety with which these philosophers analyze the passions, [Nussbaum] allows that there is an unresolveable conflict between the detachment and the intense engagement entailed by their philosophies. The sense that these philosophers still matter, that we can wrangle with them and learn from them, is invigorating.

New York Times Book Review - Richard Jenkyns

[T]his is a wonderful book, of interest to scholars of ancient philosophy, but also to those interested in medical philosophy and philosophy of mind. It would also be of great interest to those interested in the conception of philosophy as therapy that has grown from studies on Wittgenstein. I can heartily recommend it.
— Michael Gillan Peckitt

Metapsychology Online Reviews

By turns wise and witty, silly and Socratic, critical and compassionate, Nussbaum proves to be an extraordinarily addictive literary companion. . . . This is a book to live with.
— Peter Green

New Republic

Nussbaum adventurously straddles boundaries conventionally drawn between philosophy and its own history, between philosophy and literature, and between scholarship and the social sciences. . . . Few modern books have done as much as this one promises to do in raising the profile of Hellenistic philosophy. It is constantly gripping and absorbing, written with rare eloquence and containing long stretches of almost lyrical intensity. A literary as well as a philosophical tour de force.
— David Sedley

Times Literary Supplement

[E]ven while she admires the seriousness and subtlety with which these philosophers analyze the passions, [Nussbaum] allows that there is an unresolveable conflict between the detachment and the intense engagement entailed by their philosophies. The sense that these philosophers still matter, that we can wrangle with them and learn from them, is invigorating.
— Richard Jenkyns

New York Times Book Review