Abstract

The Stoics’ account of the emotions may seem a barren and austere landscape. Fortunately, this picture is increasingly being challenged and Margaret Graver’s book is an excellent and eloquent addition to that general approach. The book has many virtues. In addition to a beautifully clear and uncluttered style, it offers a careful and balanced account of the Stoic view of the emotions which pays all due attention to the Stoics’ accounts of psychology in general , education and character development, and moral responsibility. Graver does not shrink from pointing out areas in which the Stoics’ overall view may be a less than attractive option for us now, principally because it is her contention that their view makes best sense only in the context of Stoic philosophy most broadly. And much of Stoicism would not commend itself to us now, whatever the appeal of their psychological insights.Graver’s project, therefore, is primarily historical and, in particular, is to try to uncover what the first generations of Stoics may have said and thought. This task is, of course, hampered by the usual problem of evidence