The Therapy of Desire : Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics

Author: Nussbaum, Martha C., Nussbaum, Martha C.

Ancient Greece

Published on 22 May 2018 by PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS in the United States as part of 'the Princeton Classics' series.

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.