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

Empathy & Literature

“…The fact that Sophoclean tragedy inspires compassion for human suffering and the fact that it is great and powerful poetry are not independent facts: it is the poetic excellence that conveys compassion to the spectator, cutting through the habits of the everyday. (Nussbaum, 2001, p. 433)In numerous publications spanning more than two decades, Martha Nussbaum has promoted not only the view that the literariness of a text contributes importantly to its compassion-inducing capacities, but that fictional literature, in particular, empathically engages the reader or spectator (Nussbaum, 1987, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2010). Most of these publications, moreover, uncritically assume that these effects on social cognition contribute directly to gains in moral sensitivity and pro-social motivations, despite ample evidence that they can also undermine epistemic reliability and serve nefarious purposes, such as manipulation and deceit (e.g., Bloom, 2016; Breithaupt, 2018; Bubandt & Willerslev, 2015).…”

Reviewing the Interpretation of Confucian Destiny Thought from the Perspective of Moral Luck Theory

“…Life still needs to be supplemented by good luck, "We only live in a kingdom, the kingdom of nature. All our abilities, including our moral abilities, are worldly, and all need the goodness of the world to provide conditions for their prosperity" (Nussbaum, 2007). The goodness here includes not only good luck external to people, but also good luck that constitutes people's inner qualities.…”

Moral courage and manager‐regret

“…In Aeschylus' version of the Agamemnon myth, Artemis, for an unspecified reason (Aeschylus, 2002, p. 8; Nussbaum, 2001, p. 34), will prevent the Achaean military assault on Troy unless Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia. If he does not he will fail to honour his duty to Zeus to carry out the expedition, and everyone, including Iphigenia, will perish (Nussbaum, 2001).…”

“…In Aeschylus' version of the Agamemnon myth, Artemis, for an unspecified reason (Aeschylus, 2002, p. 8; Nussbaum, 2001, p. 34), will prevent the Achaean military assault on Troy unless Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia. If he does not he will fail to honour his duty to Zeus to carry out the expedition, and everyone, including Iphigenia, will perish (Nussbaum, 2001). On Martha Nussbaum's influential reading, Agamemnon's reasoning – as represented by Aeschylus – is misshapen in its limited appreciation of (as we might put it) anticipated agent‐regret.…”

“…On Martha Nussbaum's influential reading, Agamemnon's reasoning – as represented by Aeschylus – is misshapen in its limited appreciation of (as we might put it) anticipated agent‐regret. To fully weigh the significance of the sacrifice of his daughter, Nussbaum says (2001, p. 42):

Agamemnon would have to allow himself really to see his daughter…the trailing yellow robes, the prayers, the cries of ‘Father’, the look of accusation in the silent eyes. He would have to let himself remember…her sweet voice, her dutiful and loving presence at his table.

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