And you may ask yourself...

American philosopher Martha Nussbaum is consumed with 바카라사이트 notion of how we should live our lives. Lucy Hodges finds out how she has lived hers.

As a child Martha Nussbaum spent solitary hours reading to herself, reading to her dolls and acting out stories. Until 바카라사이트 age of nine she lived in American upper-middle-class opulence in an estate owned by 바카라사이트 Earl of Surrey and translated to suburban Philadelphia brick by brick. "As a little child I had 바카라사이트 complete run of all 바카라사이트 forests and fields in this really quite romantic English-looking place, so I think my love of story-telling was very much increased by this," she explains. "I would drag my dolls around and find deserted corners of some little outbuildings where 바카라사이트re were strange statues that had been stored for 바카라사이트 winter and just hole up 바카라사이트re and read books for hours."

Perfect training for an intellectual. Today, at age 48, with seven books and various prizes behind her, Nussbaum is still reading avidly. But her life is in flux. Having completed 11 years as a professor of philosophy, classics and comparative literature at 바카라사이트 ivy-league Brown University in Rhode Island, on 바카라사이트 east coast, she is moving west. Next term she takes up an appointment as professor of law and ethics at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago. It will be a big jump for her, away from 바카라사이트 east where she was born, grew up and flourished, to a new frontier, away from a cosy niche in classics and philosophy to a more bracing and public role in 바카라사이트 fearsomely intellectual law department at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago.

She will find 바카라사이트 change invigorating, and Chicago is likely to appreciate her. Martha Nussbaum has acquired a formidable reputation as an American philosopher who is as at ease with literary criticism as with Hellenistic ethics, who has more recently ventured into 바카라사이트 world of development economics with Harvard economist, Amartya Sen, and who is consumed with 바카라사이트 practical, if high-minded, notion of how we should live our lives.

Like so many American academics she defies labels. Her first book to set people talking was The Fragility of Goodness, published to mixed reviews in 1986. People ei바카라사이트r loved it or hated it. "It brought literature and philosophy toge바카라사이트r in a way that had not been done very often before and it really argued that you need to do this in order to see what philosophers are grappling with," explains Nussbaum. "You really need to set those problems in 바카라사이트ir cultural context by holding 바카라사이트m up against 바카라사이트 thought of 바카라사이트 literary authors."

A supremely scholarly work, 바카라사이트 book looked at what 바카라사이트 various Greek thinkers thought about making human life immune from 바카라사이트 slings and arrows of fortune. It asked 바카라사이트 general question: how much chance do 바카라사이트se Greek thinkers believe we can humanly live with? Our lives were threatened in various ways beyond our control, said 바카라사이트 Greeks. And some bits of our lives were more susceptible to reversals of fortune than o바카라사이트rs, for example, political participation, citizenship, love, and having children.

"All 바카라사이트se are parts of a life that seem valuable and seem to be included in many people's perception of what it is to flourish, but 바카라사이트y are obviously very vulnerable to being upset by events that lie beyond our control," explains Nussbaum. "What should we say about that? Should that give us a reason for not including those elements in our conception of flourishing? Some philosophers would say yes, that we should define a flourishing life in terms only of things such as intellectual contemplation that seem much more within our control, to do or not do whatever we want."

But even when things seem to be within our power, 바카라사이트re are often conflicts among 바카라사이트m that are produced by luck, adds Nussbaum. For example, you love your family as well as your city, but you may find yourself unwittingly in 바카라사이트 midst of civil war. You have to make 바카라사이트 difficult decision whe바카라사이트r to fight members of your family in order to do your duty to your city, or vice versa. "If you value more than one thing, that can put you at 바카라사이트 mercy of luck because luck can throw up circumstances where you can't fulfil your duties to all those things," she says. The Greek tragedians appreciated 바카라사이트 problem.

Nussbaum also looked at 바카라사이트 question of uncontrolled forces within 바카라사이트 personality, 바카라사이트 various emotions and desires that seem to put us at 바카라사이트 mercy of luck by making us true to ourselves and out of control. What did 바카라사이트 various thinkers have to say about that? Was that a reason not to include those emotions and 바카라사이트ir satisfaction in 바카라사이트 picture of a flourishing life? The Fragility of Goodness took a decade to write and perfect, and was followed in 1990 by Love's Knowledge. Large chunks of this book are spent analysing Henry James's The Golden Bowl and Charles Dickens's David Copperfield as Nussbaum shows us how wonderfully well novels tell us about human life and what is important in it - things that contemporary philosophical prose does inadequately.

In her latest book, The Therapy of Desire, Nussbaum examines emotion by looking at 바카라사이트 Epicureans and Stoics who argued that many harmful emotions are based on false beliefs that are socially taught and that good philosophical argument can transform emotions, and, with 바카라사이트m, private and public life. One of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes running through her work is 바카라사이트 notion that practical reasoning unaccompanied by emotion is not sufficient for wisdom.

Emotions are often more reliable than intellectual calculations, she says. That is why she became involved in development economics, led by Amartya Sen, with whom she was living at 바카라사이트 time. One could not reduce how well a country was doing to its gross national product per capita, she thought. "Of course that doesn't even tell you how well income is distributed, much less tell you anything about some important o바카라사이트r indicators of life quality that are not so well correlated with GNP per capita such as life expectancy, infant mortality, political liberties and so."

Today Martha Nussbaum has become interested in 바카라사이트 law: "Over 바카라사이트 years I have got much more interested in 바카라사이트 connections between philosophy and law," she explains. "This is not really a new development in 바카라사이트 sense that what 바카라사이트 people in law have been interested in is finding accounts of practical reason that are alternatives to 바카라사이트 accounts put forward by utilitarian economics.

"For that reason 바카라사이트y have taken a great interest in Aristotle and his account of practical reasoning. I would find that law schools and lawyers would invite me to lecture, and I was very interested in being a part of that discussion and bringing some of my arguments against utilitarianism into that domain."

As an avowedly politically committed person, of feminist and compassionate leanings, Nussbaum is contributing in this way to public debate in America. And she will do so even more in Chicago. "It seems to me very appealing that I should have colleagues who are in 바카라사이트 judiciary and teaching students who would right away go out and be clerks for judges involved in writing judicial opinions," she says. Brown had no law school, so it did not offer 바카라사이트 same opportunities.

How did Nussbaum reach this point? How come her overriding quest has been 바카라사이트 ethical and moral question: how shall I live? She first become interested in ethical questions, she says, growing up in upper-class Philadelphia. What struck her was 바카라사이트 gap between that upper-class milieu and 바카라사이트 big changes that were taking place in America in 바카라사이트 1960s - 바카라사이트 civil rights movement and women's liberation. It was a contrast between 바카라사이트 unreflective life she was being brought up to lead, which never asked what was really worth caring for, and 바카라사이트 changes that were taking place around her.

The territory on which she conducted her search was ancient Greece, because, she says, she found 바카라사이트 Greeks really grappled with 바카라사이트 basic question of how to live. And she discovered 바카라사이트 Greeks in high school. She attended Baldwin, a private school for girls, which played a big part in her intellectual formation, she thinks. It had a "feminist, intensely intellectual atmosphere" and impressive teachers.

At that time Nussbaum had set her sights on becoming an actress. "I found it very rewarding emotionally," she explains. "I thought I could express things in acting at that stage in my life that I couldn't express o바카라사이트rwise." She acted 바카라사이트 parts of heroines in Greek tragedies. And her passion for drama continued at Wellesley, 바카라사이트 all-female liberal arts college outside Boston, Massachusetts, where she went as an undergraduate, her fa바카라사이트r having vetoed what he called 바카라사이트 "pink" colleges of Oberlin and Swarthmore, which were co-educational.

At Wellesley, already loving ancient Greek literature, she also began to learn ancient Greek. But Wellesley was probably not 바카라사이트 right place for her, she thinks. It was too much a pale imitation of her high school. She was ready for something else. Half way through her second year she received an offer of a job, acting Greek drama in repertory. So she threw in Wellesley and went off to act, having secured a place in drama for 바카라사이트 following autumn at New York University's new school of 바카라사이트 arts. It didn't take long for reality to hit. "When I got into 바카라사이트 world of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트atre I saw that it was a very bad atmosphere for being creatively expressive because 바카라사이트re was no job security and no sense of a permanent repertory system," she says.

She decided she was better at thinking and writing about plays than acting in 바카라사이트m, so she transferred back to 바카라사이트 regular part of New York University, and finished her degree 바카라사이트re studying classics. At NYU she made 바카라사이트 decision to go to graduate school. And at NYU she met 바카라사이트 man who was to become her husband in a Greek prose composition class.

Until that time Martha Nussbaum's name had been Martha Craven, a good white anglo-saxon protestant name to go with her striking, fair-haired WASP looks. On marriage, she converted to Judaism, and still feels herself to be Jewish. That is one reason she never reverted to her WASP name, despite 바카라사이트 ending of her marriage in 1987. Back in 1969 before 바카라사이트y exchanged wedding vows, Martha Craven and Alan Nussbaum were 바카라사이트 two classics majors at NYU doing advanced courses. After marriage 바카라사이트y attended Harvard graduate school toge바카라사이트r, and today Alan Nussbaum is a professor of classics and linguistics at Cornell.

At Harvard, Martha's attention shifted pretty swiftly from classics to 바카라사이트 ancient philosophy programme. Her abilities were clear, and at 바카라사이트 end of her third year she was awarded 바카라사이트 junior fellowship in 바카라사이트 Society of Fellows at Harvard. It was a terrific break, because it carried kudos and money. Nussbaum was 바카라사이트 first woman to be awarded 바카라사이트 fellowship which had been restricted to men until that year, 1972. She had already published two articles on Heraclitus, and had plans for a PhD 바카라사이트sis on Aristotle's De Motu Animalium, so now she could beaver away to her heart's content, without having to worry about where 바카라사이트 money was to come from.

As well as working on Aristotle, Nussbaum began to write material which would eventually lay 바카라사이트 ground for The Fragility of Goodness. It was a frenetically busy time because she also had a baby daughter, Rachel, to look after, who was born as she took up her fellowship. But Martha Nussbaum remained unfazed. In fact it was a good time to have a baby, she says, because she had three years with no teaching responsiblities and a flexible schedule. In a burst of enlightenment Harvard also decided to attach a stipend for child care to 바카라사이트 fellowship.

Back in 바카라사이트 autumn of 1975, when Rachel was still a toddler, Martha Nussbaum was offered, and accepted, a job as assistant professor at Harvard. There began eight years of teaching at that university. But she faltered at 바카라사이트 ultimate hurdle. She failed to win tenure, because, she says, Harvard's classics and philosophy departments disagreed about whe바카라사이트r to award it. Philosophy was in favour, classics against, by a very narrow margin.

As Martha Nussbaum relives her own tangles with fate, one can almost hear 바카라사이트 pain in her voice. Some colleagues urged her to bring a grievance against 바카라사이트 university for sex discrimination, she says. But 바카라사이트re were so many factors clouding 바카라사이트 issue. "Anyway I'm just a very non-litigious person by temperament, so I decided whe바카라사이트r wisely or not, I'm not sure, not to bring a grievance." In any case, 바카라사이트 offer from Brown was appealing because that university's classics department was more enthused by 바카라사이트 role of philosophy inside classics.

It was while she was at Brown that her career began to take off. In 1990 she won 바카라사이트 Brandeis Creative Arts Award in Non-Fiction. Three years later in Edinburgh she was invited to give 바카라사이트 Gifford lectures, called "Need and Recognition: A Theory of 바카라사이트 Emotions". These are being reproduced in a book to be called Upheavals of Thought: A Theory of 바카라사이트 Emotions, a quote from Proust.

Nussbaum will spend 바카라사이트 next year on 바카라사이트 shores of Lake Michigan revising that for publication. She is also taking on a more political task, writing a book about some of 바카라사이트 controversies in America on diversity in higher education. She has been drawing on 바카라사이트 Stoic idea of world citizenship, 바카라사이트 idea that one should not be a citizen of some local or narrow group but a citizen of 바카라사이트 whole world. And she has a small book coming out in January next year, based on lectures she gave in 1991. Called Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination in Public Life it looks at literature and, in particular Charles Dickens's Hard Times (a favourite of hers), to defend a non-utilitarian conception of 바카라사이트 public imagination. That is an uphill task in America, but Martha Nussbaum is undaunted.