Abstract

Sabina Lovibond has produced a book that both requires and rewards close attention. It is a dense, closely argued, highly intelligent, discursive, difficult work, teeming with ideas and allusions, deserving of the greatest respect but at the same time placing the burden of tracing the line of argument squarely on the reader. In the end, admiration for the breadth of the author's scholarship and the acuity of her intellect far outweighs occasional twinges of impatience at the sometimes meandering turns in the discourse.