Iris Murdoch's Ethics: A Consideration of her Romantic Vision

Description

In Iris Murdoch's Ethics: A Consideration of Her Romantic Vision, Megan Laverty draws upon the tradition of 'Philosophical Romanticism' to account for Murdoch's enigmatical quality and her embrace of paradoxical truths. Laverty's provocative, yet accessible, study analyses Murdoch's version of Kant's Copernican Revolution, the centrality of learning and the sublime to Murdoch's redemptive vision, and Murdoch's understanding of philosophy, imagination, freedom, love and art. Laverty interprets Murdoch's emphasis on humility and attention as a critique of the Romantic emphasis on irony and self-creation. Drawing on a range of literary and philosophical sources, Laverty's study is a testimony to the ongoing significance of Murdoch's contribution to a broad range of contemporary philosophical concerns.

Megan J. Laverty is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.

'Laverty has taken philosophical discussion of Murdoch a good deal further for us all ... Laverty's book offers a wealth of insight and illumination, both about Murdoch and about the broader issues of continuing philosophical importance to which she links Murdoch's work. Anyone interested in Murdoch's philosophy, but also others with an interest in the wider context in which Laverty locates Murdoch, will find Laverty's book stimulating and fruitful. And it will certainly become an indispensable text for further philosophical work inspired by Murdoch's writings.' Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2008