Abstract

Martha Nussbaum gives a timely and interesting exhortation of Stoic ideals in _Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism, _but any implementation of these ancient ideals may have very serious consequences, as they certainly did in antiquity. Material consequences (loosely speaking) are not the purpose of a Stoic sage’s actions. Yet if prudence is to be the virtue for us that it was to our philosophical ancestors then, would-be Stoics are obligated to be very careful in making decisions for a cosmopolitan worldview, especially if we are to approach our future based on ideals over which even the ancients argued.