Philosophy Without Tears<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philosophy Without Tears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/\",\"name\":\"Philosophy Without Tears\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Philosophy Without Tears\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Philosophy Without Tears","description":"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Philosophy Without Tears","og_description":"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/","name":"Philosophy Without Tears","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"Rachel Aviv's New Yorker profile of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Philosophy Without Tears"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":18260,"date":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=35"},"modified":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:00:00","slug":"philosophy-without-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/08\/philosophy-without-tears\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy Without Tears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

R<\/span>achel Aviv\u2019s New Yorker profile<\/a> of philosopher Martha Nussbaum was shadowed by irony. Entitled \u201cThe Philosopher of Feelings,\u201d the article described Nussbaum\u2019s work on the philosophy of emotions and her advocacy of human vulnerability. Philosophy itself can provide a protective shield against luck or unluck, and she has studied the ways disgust \u201cdraws sharp edges around the self\u201d (Nussbaum\u2019s phrase) and alienates us from our humanity.\n<\/p>\n

Yet Aviv depicts a confident, active, dominating woman, a woman who soldiered on with a lecture after her mother\u2019s death, a woman who gave Aviv very specific directions about how to write a profile of Martha Nussbaum. It\u2019s odd that someone who studies the vulnerability of bodies should be devoted to an exercise regimen apparently designed to mold her flesh into steel. Aviv says that Nussbaum has been drawn to those who blush in partial reaction to her unblushing father, but in person she is very much her father\u2019s daughter.\n<\/p>\n

The distance between philosophical interests and character isn\u2019t complete. According to Aviv, Nussbaum is quite at home with bodily processes: \u201cWhen she goes on long runs, she has no problem urinating behind bushes. Once, when she was in Paris with her daughter, Rachel, who is now an animal-rights lawyer in Denver, she peed in the garden of the Tuileries Palace at night.\u201d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

The irony isn\u2019t unintended, nor is it entirely lost on Nussbaum herself. Aviv notes, \u201cIn a semi-autobiographical essay in her book \u2018Love\u2019s Knowledge,\u2019 from 1990, she offers a portrait of a female philosopher who approaches her own heartbreak with a notepad and a pen; she sorts and classifies the experience, listing the properties of an ideal lover and comparing it to the men she has loved. \u2018You now begin to see how this lady is,\u2019 she wrote. \u2018She goes on thinking at all times. She won\u2019t simply cry, she will ask what crying consists in. One tear, one argument.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"