Goodness and Emotions in Fragility: Nussbaum on Tragic Ethics

Abstract

Nussbaum argues that divergent attitudes toward the influence of luck on the realization of Goodness constitute the fundamental divide between the ethical conception of Greek tragedy and philosophy. Philosophical ethics attempts to exclude the influence of luck through reason in order to establish the self-sufficient good, whereas the ethical conception disclosed by Greek tragedy acknowledges and embraces the fragility of the good, regarding emotions as a necessary condition for ethical practice. Based on Nussbaum’s interpretation of ancient Greek tragedy, the core views of tragic ethics can be revealed. The fragility of goodness is interwoven across dual dimensions: external circumstances and internal character, and is rooted in the universal presence of contingency, human finitude and relationality, and tensions among plural good values. Fragility, as the realistic premise of ethical practice, does not necessarily lead to the failure or disappearance of the good; rather, it reveals the virtue and dignity that individuals demonstrate in confronting fate. Emotions, as the medium for perceiving fragility, play an irreplaceable cognitive and practical role in the realization of the good.