“It is no little thing to make mine eyes to sweat compassion”: APA comments of Martha Nussbaum's Upheavals of Thought

Abstract

One way to read Nussbaum's Upheavals of Thought is as aninvitation to the reader to find a role for compassion inpublic life. I take up her invitation by considering a partof public life she doesn't herself touch on in thischapter--namely, the military and the role of compassionwithin it. I also consider the topic from the point of viewof something quite central to Nussbaum's ownproject--namely, the viability of stoicism as informingviews about emotions and eudaimonia more generally. Tonarrow the lens even more, I consider the role ofcompassion for someone I call, the stoic warrior, (a termthat serves as the title of my own forthcoming book onstoicism and the military).