I’m reading Martha Nussbaum’s “The Therapy of Desire” at the moment which is a book that came about from a series of lectures (The Martin Classical Lectures) on Hellenistic (ancient Greece and Rome) ethics that Nussbaum gave in 1986.

In her introduction, Nussbaum sets her parameters for “the idea of a practical and compassionate philosophy” wherein she discusses the fact that the major Hellenistic schools were highly critical of society as they found it.

This direct quote of hers hit home with me in relation to the articles posted here recently about “Affluenza” and also about “The Cult of Capitalism”.

It’s amazing how little things have changed in the last three thousand years!!