Segal, Jerome M.2019-09-252019-09-252009-01-01199910672478http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/171652In the philosophical traditions of both the East and the West, one encounters the idea that human beings may attain the good life by satisfying a small number of basic needs. Often this belief finds expression in myths of a golden age that we have lost by allowing our needs and desires to multiply. The Roman author Seneca invokes a simpler past in his articulation of Stoic philosophyengWith permission of the license/copyright holdersocial ethicsPhilosophyMethods of ethicsPhilosophical ethicsArticle