Martha Nussbaum

We are now requiring that new registrants confirm their request for an account by email.  Once you complete the "Sign Up" process to set up your user name and password, please send an email to the New Accounts Administator to obtain new account approval.

Regularly Checking In On A Small Screen Device? Bookmark THIS page!

    Info On Martha Nussbaum's Therapy of Desire here. More info and links will be added to this thread but in the meantime please search Nussbaum. Please be sure to see THIS thread where many of the same comments are made: https://www.epicureanfriends.com/index.php?thre…71HbJQAeGapTLTQ

    Also, see the presentation by Elena Nicoli Reassessing Nussbaum's Interpretation of Epicurean Therapy.

    I've been meaning to go through Nussbaum's "Therapy of Desire" to pull out some quotes relevant to that, and I will post a couple here.

    Each of these points can be argued, without doubt. My main purpose in pointing these out is that if someone wants an appreciation for Epicurus without devoting a life to debating philosophy, Nussbaum is not a good place to start, and DeWitt is far preferable.

    Let's start first with a statement by her with which I agree, that Epicurus was not proposing a "return to the simple life of nature" from page 109 --

    Image may contain: text

    From page 139, Nussbaum compares Epicurus unfavorably to Aristotle in that she thinks dialectic is essential, that the Epicurean pupil is passive, that the pupil is not suited for critical thinking...

    Image may contain: text


    Nussbaum takes the side of reason as an end in itself:

    Image may contain: text


    Nussbaum says Epicurean pupil has no autonomy and that autonomy is not valued by Epicurean philosophy:

    Image may contain: text


    Nussbaum thinks that the Epicurean view of friendship is at tension with itself:


    Image may contain: text

Unread Threads

    1. Title
    2. Replies
    3. Last Reply

    2. Immutability of Epicurean school in ancient times 11

      • TauPhi
      • July 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM
    3. Replies
      11
      Views
      701
      11

    4. Eikadistes

      July 29, 2025 at 2:14 PM

    2. Recorded Statements of Metrodorus 11

      • Cassius
      • July 28, 2025 at 7:23 PM
    3. Replies
      11
      Views
      590
      11

    4. Cassius

      July 28, 2025 at 7:23 PM

    2. Philodemus' "On Anger" - General - Texts and Resources 20

      • Cassius
      • July 8, 2025 at 7:33 AM
    3. Replies
      20
      Views
      7.7k
      20

    4. Kalosyni

      July 8, 2025 at 7:33 AM

Finding Things At EpicureanFriends.com

What's the best strategy for finding things on EpicureanFriends.com? Here's a suggested search strategy:

  • First, familiarize yourself with the list of forums. The best way to find threads related to a particular topic is to look in the relevant forum. Over the years most people have tried to start threads according to forum topic, and we regularly move threads from our "general discussion" area over to forums with more descriptive titles.
  • Use the "Search" facility at the top right of every page. Note that the search box asks you what section of the forum you'd like to search. If you don't know, select "Everywhere." Also check the "Search Assistance" page.
  • Use the "Tag" facility, starting with the "Key Tags By Topic" in the right hand navigation pane, or using the "Search By Tag" page, or the "Tag Overview" page which contains a list of all tags alphabetically. We curate the available tags to keep them to a manageable number that is descriptive of frequently-searched topics.