Martha Nussbaum on Stoicism: a Respectful Reply
Martha Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, is a powerhouse of modern philosophy. Among other things, she has won the American Philosophical Association’s Philip Quinn Prize, the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, and the Don M. Randel Prize for Achievement in the Humanities from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Her many books include The Therapy of Desire, Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice, and the very recent The Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis. She has published internationally renowned work in Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, feminist philosophy, political philosophy, and philosophy and the arts. So, when she speaks, or writes, the sensible thing to do is to listen carefully.
That said, I’m going to take issue with and respectfully push back against some remarks Nussbaum made about Stoicism in a recent interview with 3AM Magazine. Both the magazine and the full interview are well worth reading, but I will focus here on the bits about Stoic philosophy.
Nussbaum begins by praising Hellenistic philosophies, including Stoicism:
“The Hellenistic thinkers (the Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics) all thought that…
