Knowra Iris Murdoch Iris Murdoch Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) was a British novelist and philosopher whose fiction and moral philosophy examine attention, freedom, goodness, and the difficulty of seeing other people justly.
The Sovereignty of Good : A 1970 collection of essays in which Murdoch develops her philosophy of moral attention and the Good. This book gives the clearest compact statement of the ethical ideas behind her fiction.
Under the Net : Iris Murdoch's 1954 debut novel, following a writer through London in pursuit of a friend and a lost manuscript. Its comic plot tests whether its narrator can escape self-serving interpretations of others.
Plato : An ancient Greek philosopher whose dialogues investigate justice, knowledge, love, and the nature of reality. Murdoch drew on Plato's idea that moral life involves turning toward a reality beyond the self.
Oxford University : A university in Oxford, England, with a long history of teaching and research. Murdoch studied classics and philosophy at Oxford and later taught there.
Moral perception : The capacity to recognize morally significant features of situations, actions, and people. Murdoch helped shift ethical debate from choosing actions toward learning to see situations truthfully.
Attention : The selective focusing of consciousness on particular objects, thoughts, or experiences. Murdoch treats just attention as a discipline that can correct self-serving moral vision.
The Bell : Iris Murdoch's 1958 novel about a religious community near an isolated lay community in Gloucestershire. The community's rules and private attachments expose the gap between moral ideals and conduct.
Simone Weil : A French philosopher and activist whose writings explore attention, affliction, obligation, and spiritual reality. Weil's account of attention deeply influenced Murdoch's moral philosophy.
Newnham College, Cambridge : A constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded in 1871 for the education of women. Murdoch studied philosophy at Newnham during the period when she began her academic career.
Virtue ethics : An approach to ethics centered on character, practical wisdom, and the cultivation of virtues. Her emphasis on moral attention and character resonates with renewed interest in virtue-centered ethics.
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