insights."

    Mention the beginning of virtueethics and its founding fathers,Plato and Aristotle, to Hursthouseand you might expect it to bemet with a certain reverence. Notby this woman who once described herself as "a simple colonialgirl". "Even for an Athenian," she exclaims, "Aristotle was a right-wingredneck." I don't dare ask about Plato. Which raises a question whichHursthouse anticipates.

    "Why in the 21st century should anyone want to go back to theseancient Greeks for inspiration on ethics; middle-class, male chauvinistpig, Athenian snobs that they were?" Hurstbouse proposes. Well, yes,though I wasn't going to phrase it like that. The answer, she believes,is that unlike the work of other classical thinkers ("no one thinks theRomans were very good at philosophy"), their thinking has survivedthe centuries because of its vitality and suitability. What's more,because they were marketplace raconteurs they remain accessiblein a way that learned philosophers don't. ......