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Iris Murdoch and the Search for Human Goodness

A noted philosopher and one of the most gifted and prolific novelists of the twentieth century, Iris Murdoch has anticipated and shaped many of the issues central to current ethics. These include the relation between human identity and ideas of the good, the effect of the modern critique of religion on moral thought, the relation between ethics and literature, and the contemporary debate about liberalism. In the most comprehensive engagement with Murdoch’s work to date, this volume gathers contributions from philosophers, theologians, and a literary critic to explore the significance of her ideas for contemporary thought.

Inspired by Murdoch’s tenacious wrestling with basic questions of human existence, these essays not only clarify her thoughts on human goodness, but also move beyond the academy to reflect on how we can and ought to undertake the human adventure in our daily lives.

Contributors are Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, David Tracy, Cora Diamond, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Dipple, Franklin I. Gamwell, Stanley Hauerwas, and William Schweiker. This volume also includes "Metaphysics and Ethics," a classic essay by Iris Murdoch.


286 pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 | © 1996

Philosophy: Ethics

Religion: Philosophy of Religion, Theology, and Ethics, Religion and Literature

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Maria Antonaccio, William Schweiker.
1: Iris Murdoch and Moral Philosophy
Charles Taylor
2: Love and Vision: Iris Murdoch on Eros and the Individual
Martha C. Nussbaum
3: Iris Murdoch and the Many Faces of Platonism
David Tracy
4: "We Are Perpetually Moralists": Iris Murdoch, Fact, and Value
Cora Diamond
5: Form and Contingency in Iris Murdoch’s Ethics
Maria Antonaccio
6: The Green Knight and Other Vagaries of the Spirit; or, Tricks and Images for the Human Soul; or, The Uses of Imaginative Literature
Elizabeth Dipple
7: On the Loss of Theism
Franklin I. Gamwell
8: Murdochian Muddles: Can We Get Through Them If God Does Not Exist?
Stanley Hauerwas
9: The Sovereignty of God’s Goodness
William Schweiker
Appendix: Metaphysics and Ethics
Iris Murdoch
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index

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