The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy 2nd Edition

The Good:The book is large and gives a very unique take on moral philosophy, studying it through Greek literature and fiction rather than constructing it foundationally. I'd never actually read an approach to moral philosophy like this, and was intrigued by the premise. The book is both informal and very educational, especially to someone who reads and enjoys Greco-Roman tragedies and philosophical texts. However, you do not need to have read anything prior to picking up this book. It is self-contained and provides enough context when analyzing specific tragedies and philosophical outlooks for the reader to understand what is going on. In this way, the book is extremely accessible. Nussbaum also gives a great survey of other more contemporary moral philosophers and their approaches to the question of luck and its role in ethics. I really appreciated that context and background, and it for me it added a sense of completeness to the book.The Bad:Like most academics, Nussbaum belabors many of her points, and gets too sidetracked while writing. She spends way too much time detailing the various techae as an example, but does very little to tie all those details back to moral philosophy. She gets caught up in minute details within translations of Plato and Aristotle, which I'm sure is important to a Classist, but adds nothing to her overall points (for me anyway).Overall Rating:10/10. I loved this book. Every book has flaws, and the larger and more ambitious the book, the more flaws it is bound to have. This book is unique and teaches you something that not many other books will teach you. As such, it is a must-have for anyone with a passion for philosophy.

Martha Craven renounced her Puritan background to marry Mr.Nussbaum and become an observant Jew.I thinks this lends character to her work. I was fortunate enough to have attended some lectures of hers, first in Miami and then in Asheville, NC, and I can attest to the fact that she's a great speaker--very attractive, too..This book is the one that made her famous, and rightfully so. Being a top-notch classical scholar, Nussbaum rode the rising tide in discussing what is now known as "moral luck,." something that is the topic du jour in philosophy. Nussbaum discusses luck in the Greek tragedies, whereas Stephen Greenblatt does the same for the Roman philosopher Lucretius in his "The Swerve." Read both of these books together, and you'll have a good idea of what is going on in contemporary physics, ethics, and the human condition.

This book is a must have for every student of Greek philosophy and history. It can be a source for many new ideas.

This book changed the course of my intellectual life.Its argument about the essential nature of human goodness and its relationship to its intrinsic vulnerability is simple, beautiful, and breathtakingly well traced through classical Greek texts. Encountering Nussbaum's reading of the Antigone was, and remains, one of the high points of my evolution as a human cognizant of the gravitas of moral choice-making under the sign of fragility. In 30 years of reading, I've never encountered a more articulate, erudite, and accessible explanation of our most basic ethical paradox: creatures are vulnerable and need protection if they are to flourish. Fortune holds out all manner of circumstances and contexts in which the fragility that makes life ethically unique also makes their wellbeing contingent on humans' moral choices, e.g., taking measures to protect, nourish, cultivate, and shelter. In so doing, the risk of disaster is reduced; the odds of human life surviving and flourishing in an essentially hostile world go up. But moral choice is seldom clear. Nussbaum is especially effective in describing the world as a messy and complex place in which it is damnably difficult to know what constitutes good human action. As Nussbaum has said, good human choice requires subtlety of perception and refinement of feeling. It is via a process of refining feeling and continuously working to make one's perception of the world's complexities more subtle that sound moral choice-making is most likely to occur.

I find this book a very exciting read. I would recommend it to anyone who questions.

I am not a classics scholar, so I am not fit to judge the opinions of others stated here that Nussbaum 'misreads' the works of ancient philosophers. Nevertheless, in my reading of Nussbaum's works I do not see any evidence to suggest Nussbaum is being careless in her exegesis and interpretation of the works of ancient philosophy.Her thesis is quite interesting and intricate, and based around the examination of attempts by Greek thinkers, especially Plato and Aristotle, to overcome the fragility and contingency of our human condition. The bias of Nussbaum is clearly towards Aristotle's down-to Earth philosophy over Plato's attempts to totally transcend our weakness by placing happiness in contemplation of the Forms, though she does not dismiss Plato out of hand.While one may not ultimately accept her arguments or her thesis, her ideas are carefully argued and supported by close readings of the ancient philosophers, and well worth considering.