Iris Murdoch: philosophy and fiction

We shall evaluate the moral philosophy of Iris Murdoch (1919-99) - examining some of the philosophers who influenced her, the central themes in her philosophical writings on moral value, and how these themes feature in her fictional works such as A Fairly Honourable Defeat and The Nice and The Good.

Aims

This course aims to: 

• increase knowledge and appreciation of Iris Murdoch’s writings – both philosophical 
  and fictional
   
• increase knowledge of the context of Murdoch’s philosophical writings (from Plato to Sartre and Weil) as well as your personal critical response
   
• further your own moral philosophy in terms of what it is about Murdoch’s moral philosophy that you agree or disagree with, and for what reasons

Content

Iris Murdoch makes it clear, in her interview with Brian Magee, that writing philosophy and writing fiction are different enterprises. Nevertheless, reading her philosophy increases one’s appreciation of her fictional writing, and reading her fiction helps us to understand her philosophy. I hope this course strikes a balance between philosophy and fiction but note that there is quite a lot of philosophical content - without assuming any prior knowledge.

We shall briefly examine Murdoch’s life and times in the first session before focusing on her main philosophical influences (these are numerous). In most cases Murdoch is both in agreement and disagreement with her historical interlocutors (Plato, Hegel, Sartre, Weil). We shall round up the points of agreement to lay the foundations for a positive philosophy developed in subsequent sessions. The first session end includes comment on Murdoch’s systematic parodying of philosophy in her fictional works.

In the second session we shall examine Murdoch’s ‘ontological argument for the Good’ as well as her view of traditional theism and religion. We shall look at Plato’s epistemology depicted in the sun, line and cave illustrations in his Republic before examining at how Plato’s metaphor of the cave is taken up in various fictional works such as The Nice and the Good. The third session attempts a summary of Murdoch’s metaphysical system and clarifies particular moral themes such as ‘loving attention’ which is also illustrated in her fictional works. We shall address various criticisms that have been waged against Murdoch’s system. The fourth session examines Murdochian virtues in more depth, philosophically, and in how fictional characters embody or lack virtues.

In the final session we shall unpack two prompts from Murdoch’s philosophical works on the morally educative power of literary fiction; and end with discussion on the controversial question of which is Murdoch’s best novel. 

Presentation of the course 

Each of the five sessions will begin with a prompt (cartoon, or extract from the author’s philosophical or fictional work) followed by a presentation from the course director (informal and lecture style) that outlines the main philosophical arguments which should provoke discussion (whole group or discussion in small groups). We shall do a close reading exercise on Murdoch’s fiction in the final session. 

Course sessions

1. Who is Iris Murdoch? Following a brief biography, we shall look at the many philosophical influences on Murdoch’s moral philosophy and how these influences are portrayed in 
   her fiction.
    
2. Murdoch’s Ontology of the Good. Murdoch substitutes the Good for God in her philosophy; we shall examine what this means and how she alludes to Plato’s cave metaphor in her fiction.
    
3. The Murdochian System: truth, beauty and virtue. This session provides an overview of Murdoch’s moral philosophy covering the main themes including: loving attention, asceticism and unselfing. 
    
4. Moral characters in Murdoch’s fiction. Murdoch has been called a virtue theorist and we shall examine this claim in light of various moral and immoral characters from her fiction.
    
5. Murdoch: Literature and Morality. In the final session we shall look at the place of art in Murdoch’s philosophy, and in particular the morally educative nature of literature. 
    

Learning outcomes

You are expected to gain from this series of classroom sessions a greater understanding of the subject and of the core issues and arguments central to the course. 

The learning outcomes for this course are:

• to have fun reading Iris Murdoch’s novels and to develop a view of some of the novel’s themes
   
• to be able to provide a coherent answer if asked ‘what is Iris Murdoch’s philosophy all about?’
   
• to be able to provide a coherent answer to the question ‘what do you think of Iris Murdoch’s philosophy?’

Required reading

No prior reading is essential, but it is useful to gain some acquaintance of both Murdoch’s philosophy and fiction.

Iris Murdoch has two main works of Philosophy (any edition):

Murdoch, Iris, Peter, Conradi, Existentialists and Mystics edition (London: Penguin 1999)
ISBN 0140264922

Look at the chapters entitled: ‘Vision and Choice in Morality’; ‘The Sublime and the Good’; ‘The Idea of Perfection’; and ‘The Sovereignty of Good Over Other Concepts’

Murdoch, Iris, Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (London: Vintage 2003)
ISBN 0099433559, Chapters 2, 13 and 16

Any of the novels are worth reading. For instance: Under the Net, The Bell, An Unofficial Rose, The Unicorn, The Nice and The Good, A Fairly Honourable Defeat, The Black Prince, The Sacred and Profane Love Machine, A Word Child, The Sea The Sea, The Philosopher’s Pupil,The Good Apprentice, The Book and the Brotherhood, The Green Knight

Typical week: Monday to Friday 

Courses run from Monday to Friday. For each week of study, you select a morning (Am) course and an afternoon (Pm) course. The maximum class size is 25 students.   

Courses are complemented by a series of daily plenary lectures, exploring new ideas in a wide range of disciplines. To add to your learning experience, we are also planning additional evening talks and events. 

Evaluation and Academic Credit  

If you are seeking to enhance your own study experience, or earn academic credit from your Cambridge Summer Programme studies at your home institution, you can submit written work for assessment for one or more of your courses.  

Essay questions are set and assessed against the University of Cambridge standard by your Course Director, a list of essay questions can be found in the Course Materials. Essays are submitted two weeks after the end of each course, so those studying for multiple weeks need to plan their time accordingly. There is an evaluation fee of £75 per essay. 

For more information about writing essays see Evaluation and Academic Credit. 

Certificate of attendance 

A certificate of attendance will be sent to you electronically after the programme.