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Why do we care about Greco-Roman philosophy?
Carla: Hi Matt! Is this a good place for our cappuccino break?
Matt: Splendid! I’ve never been here before, looking forward to chatting over drinks. No to mention those delicious pastries they have here. What do they call them?
Carla: Cornetti. The French call them croissants. It sounds better, but they doesn’t taste as good as what we make here in Rome…
Matt: Ha ha! Maybe so, I’d love to do a blind test! But another time, perhaps, as I actually wanted to ask you a question that’s been bugging me for a while now.
Carla: Go ahead, I’m curious!
Matt: Well, you see, you have been writing for years now about the ancient Greeks and Romans. You know, virtue ethics, Stoicism, Skepticism, all that stuff. I guess it’s historically interesting, of course, but why should we, two and a half millennia later, care about what people like Socrates or Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius said? Particularly since they were all (long since dead) white men.
Carla: Good question, actually. They were certainly mostly men, though there occasionally were women among them. Like Julia Domna, the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus, who studied with and supported a group of Stoic philosophers. Or Theano of Crotona, Pythagoras’ wife and a member of his group. Or Aspasia of…
