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Interview

Aristotle, Ethics & Literature

Richard Kearney talks to Martha Nussbaum about her life and work.

RK Martha, the guiding question of your work is “how should we live?” Why the primacy of this ethical question?

MN That question has had a long history in my life, because I grew up in an upper-class world on the East coast of the United States that was very sterile, very preoccupied with money and status. And I grew up at a time of tremendous change in American life – the civil rights movement, changes in women’s lives. This forced me to notice the contrast between the life I was being brought up to lead, which was unreflective, which never posed the question of what was really worth caring for, and the changes taking place all around me. That contrast led me to focus on the ethical question.

RK Why did you choose ancient Greek culture as a special hunting-ground for an answer to this question? Surely that seems like escapism, having recourse to some ancient exotic hinterland?

MN In fact, I found the Greeks very immediate.

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