Nancy Sherman

Nancy Sherman (born 1951) is an American philosopher and Distinguished University Professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, where she also holds an affiliate appointment with Georgetown Law's Center on National Security and the Law. She works in ethics, military ethics, the history of moral philosophy, ancient philosophy, the emotions, moral psychology, and psychoanalysis. She is the author of seven books, including Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience, Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our Soldiers (2015), and The Untold War (2010), a New York Times Notable Book. Her forthcoming book, Feed the Soul: Lessons from Aristotle on Living Well, is scheduled for publication by Yale University Press in January 2027.

From 1997 to 1999, Sherman served as the inaugural Distinguished Chair in Ethics at the United States Naval Academy.

Early life and education Sherman earned a BA magna cum laude with honors in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College in 1973.

Ancient ethics and virtue Sherman's early work focused on Aristotle's ethics and the broader tradition of virtue ethics. Her first book, The Fabric of Character: Aristotle's Theory of Virtue (1989), examines Aristotle's account of the development and structure of moral character. Making a Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue (1997) argues that the ethical theories of Aristotle and Immanuel Kant are more compatible than is traditionally supposed, and that emotional engagement plays an essential role in Kantian moral life. She is also the editor of Critical Essays on the Classics: Aristotle's Ethics (1999).

In Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind (2005), Sherman writes about courage and the use of emotions from a soldier's point of view. She asserts that soldiers returning home often receive insufficient care, leaving them ill-prepared for non-violent civilian life. She compares the dysfunctional anger shown by some soldiers after they come home to the anger that may be functional on the battlefield as a way of summoning courage. Though the relationship of anger to courage may be deemed controversial to Stoic views of the perfect warrior, Sherman sees this as a relationship in displaying courage, since soldiers must suppress their anger, fear, and other battlefield emotions, inducing a disorder that releases these emotions after a battle, in non-violent situations. Sherman has argued that ancient theories of stoicism may be modified and helpfully applied to the modern world and the modern soldier. Her conclusions have been criticized on the basis that such applications may be actively counterproductive.

The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers (2010), based on interviews with more than forty service members, was named a New York Times Notable Book and Editors' Choice for 2010, and was selected by the United States Air Force Academy faculty as the outstanding recent book in the humanities on war. Stoic Wisdom has been translated into German, simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Sherman's books include Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons For Modern Resilience (Oxford 2021);Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our Soldiers (Oxford 2015); The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of our Soldiers (W.W. Norton 2010); Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind (Oxford 2005); Making A Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue (Cambridge 1997); and The Fabric of Character: Aristotle's Theory of Virtue (Oxford 1989). She is the editor of Aristotle's Ethics: Critical Essays (Rowman&Littlefield 1999).