The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics

Martha C. Nussbaum

Princeton University Press, Jun 6, 2013 - Philosophy - 584 pages

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.

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 3
• Therapeutic Arguments: 13
• Medical Dialectic Aristotle on Theory and Practice: 48
• Aristotle on Emotions and Ethical Health: 78
• Epicurean Surgery Argument and Empty Desire: 102
• Beyond Obsession and Disgust Lucretius on the Therapy of Love: 140
• Mortal Immortals Lucretius on Death and the Voice of Nature: 192
• By Words Not Arms Lucretius on Anger and Aggression: 239
• Skeptic Purgatives Disturbance and the Life without Belief: 280
• Stoic Tonics Philosophy and the SelfGovernment of the Soul: 316
• The Stoics on the Extirpation of the Passions: 359
• Seneca on Anger in Public Life: 402
• Serpents in the Soul A Reading of Senecas Medea: 439
• The Therapy of Desire: 484
• List of Philosophers and Schools: 511
• Bibliography: 517
• Index Locorum: 531
• General Index: 550

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).

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics; Princeton Classics
• Author: Martha C. Nussbaum
• Contributor: Martha C. Nussbaum
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2013
• ISBN: 1400831946, 9781400831944
• Length: 584 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / History & Surveys / Ancient & Classical