Why Iris Murdoch Matters

Reviews / Votes

The complex relationships Murdoch so carefully lays bare in her novels show the misery that people inflict on themselves and others by failing to attend properly to the reality at hand. Her philosophical works on metaphysics and ethics display her unique reaction to the dryness and radical individualism of the overly abstract philosophies of existentialist and analytic philosophers, who depict moral agents as freely choosing wills unencumbered, and undefined by, personal relations, detached from the communities in which they live. Murdoch attempts to recover traditional values lost in these philosophies by intimations in experience of the unifying presence of goodness that transcends subjective satisfaction. Good art and literature enable people to see and become more sensitive to the experience of others. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE * She had a significant impact on some brilliant philosophers: Cora Diamond, John McDowell, Martha Nussbaum, and Charles Taylor. But she is not widely read ... Her work may be more visible now, but progress is slow. Browning's accessible, wide-ranging book will help accelerate it. * Los Angeles Review of Books * A stunning account of the philosophical and, to a lesser degree, political, underpinning of Murdoch's novel writing ... written in precise, rich prose, this is an important contribution to the growing sphere of Iris Murdoch studies but should also prove to be of immense interest to the general reader alike. * Irish Times * Browning has succeeded in casting Murdoch's legacy in a new light by showing that her work is historical and political. He has made a convincing case that her unique combination of metaphysics, moral philosophy, art and personal life offer something which has been missing in the dominant trends of Anglo-American moral and political philosophy, and that she should be studied not only by literary scholars and philosophers but also by political theorists and historians of ideas. * The European Legacy * Browning has achieved a unity in the diversity of her thought and readers will likely be convinced that Iris Murdoch indeed matters. * The University Bookman * An original introduction for both the student and the lay reader alike. * Peter J Conradi, Professor Emeritus of English, Kingston University, UK * Gary Browning places Murdoch in her age and in ours: she is a profoundly historical and dialectical thinker from a very particular historical moment, whose influence and importance have only grown in recent years. He sees her in the round: this is Murdoch as first, the philosopher who refused to be either 'analytic' or 'continental': but then also and, very vividly, the novelist, the playwright, the political thinker and the letter-writer. An exciting and much-needed book. * Justin Broackes, Professor of Philosophy, Brown University, USA *