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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

Nussbaum on tragedy « Previous | |Next »
February 6, 2012

Martha Nussbaum interviewed on The Fragility of Goodness: luck and ethics in Greek tragedy and philosophy. In this text Nussbaum's inquiry is to pursue Greek responses to the problems of living a good life and making the right ethical choices in a world where chance and events beyond our control can shatter the very foundations of all we hold dear or force us into insoluble crises.

Nussbaum holds that tragedy places importance on the contingent factors of our lives -- our relationships with loved ones and friends, our wish for power and success in the world, and so on; for her, tragedy's typically complex treatment of these issues leads to a 'learning through suffering' and conveys a sophisticated ethical world-view.

In our time, we are tempted to think that luck has nothing to do with goodness, because we are inclined to define this latter purely in terms of intention. Nussbaum points out how much contemporary moral thinking is under Kantian influence. It is the quality of the will that matters, and that is independent of fortune. What happens to us may affect our happiness, will certainly determine how much good we manage to do; but it can't touch what we intend, and that alone is relevant to the moral quality of our lives.

This can push us towards a narrowing in our definition of the good. In pursuit of ethical self-sufficiency we can be led to redefine the good life so as to exclude the things which are vulnerable to chance. The tdesire to limit vulnerability can take us in the other direction--to make us try to control the course of things, to get a grip on events, to be in control. This leads to maximizing power.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 2:02 PM |