Iris Murdoch as Educator

Laverty, Megan

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-18967-9_9

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Coetzee's transformation of the genre of the bildungsroman elucidates a concept of formative education suitable for our secular age. Living in a ‘post‐God world’, without any ‘agreement about the deepest, highest values’ (Pippin, , p. 15), genuinely formative experiences require that we, ‘ come home to what is categorical and not hypothetical, to return to the present, where we also and essentially live’ as Iris Murdoch wrote (Murdoch, , p. 305; see also Forsberg, and ; and Laverty, ). In the Jesus novels, Coetzee's invocation of salvation without an obvious theology hints at a perfectionist, categorical alternative to the bildungsroman ’s progressivism: a glimpse of transcendence in the present moment that, despite its unattainability, is still valuable as a point of orientation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I read Coetzee's Jesus novels as advocating for a passion‐ and transcendence‐based philosophy of education, rather than one grounded in the hyper‐rationalised instrumentalisation that seems increasingly ascendant in professional educational theory today. In my view, young people need to be in school now more than ever—not just for numeracy and literacy skills (although these are important), nor for the social advancement and cultural capital that these institutions afford, but because schools are home to such truth‐seeking activities as dance, mathematics, literature and science (Laverty, ). Put simply, a truth‐seeking activity is one that admits of being perfected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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J.M. Coetzee, Eros and Education

Laverty¹

2019

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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I focus on J.M. Coetzee's contribution to philosophy of education by examining his most recent novels, The Childhood of Jesus (2013) and The Schooldays of Jesus (2016). These novels appear to narrate the formative education of the child, Davíd, together comprising a contemporary bildungsroman. Coetzee's transformation of the genre's characteristic features, however, invites a reading of these novels as an anti‐bildungsroman. This article thus argues that these two novels constitute a revaluation and reclamation of the genre. While they purport to be about childhood—and tell a ‘coming of age’ story— more accurately they are about the stifling effect a certain conception of adulthood has on our erotic nature. I provide a detailed summary of Coetzee's Jesus novels against a background description of the bildungsroman genre in order to demonstrate that these novels conceptualise schooling in terms that subvert the genre that Coetzee employs with deeply ironic intent. The schools in Coetzee's novels are necessary, but not for the numeracy and literacy skills, nor the social advancement and cultural capital that they provide. Rather, they are necessary because they are home to a full range of artistic, intellectual and athletic truth‐seeking activities. The practice of these activities disciplines the soul by inspiring budding poets, mathematicians and athletes to aspire to a perfection that they may glimpse but never reach. Ultimately, I suggest that in the world of the novels—as well as in our own—education is a means to value the intuited promise of transcendent intrinsic value in the midst of the increasingly successful administration of rationally instrumental control and coordination.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

J.M. Coetzee, Eros and Education

Laverty¹

2019

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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“…3131The place of education in Murdoch's philosophy is beautifully discussed by Megan Laverty (2019). …”

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Education for metaphysical animals

Bakhurst

2022

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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This essay explores the legacy of the four philosophers now often referred to as ‘The Wartime Quartet’: G.E.M. Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot and Mary Midgley. The life and work of the four, who studied together in Oxford during the Second World War, is the subject of two recently published books, The Women Are Up to Something, by Benjamin Lipscomb, and Metaphysical Animals, by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman. The two books show us how Anscombe, Murdoch, Foot and Midgley became friends united in their hostility to the logical‐positivist orthodoxy of the day and its deleterious influence on Oxford moral philosophy. And we see how their friendship had a formative influence on their subsequent—highly distinguished—careers, so that it is possible to discern, if not exactly a school of thought, then various common themes, ideas and concerns, which are expressed and developed in contrasting ways. While Lipscomb represents the work of the Quartet as of largely historical significance, my paper defends what I take to be Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman's position that their legacy is very much a living one, containing insights that are not just of enduring relevance, but can transform how we see ourselves and how we do philosophy. For Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman, the key idea shared by the members of the Quartet is to place the concept of life at the centre of philosophical attention. This commitment has at least four dimensions: (i) an interest in the ordinary; (ii) a focus on virtue, goodness and human flourishing; (iii) an affirmation of our animal nature; (iv) recognition of the normative landscape that structures our lives. I try to bring out the philosophical significance of these themes in a way relevant to the philosophical elucidation of education.

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The ethical and educational ambiguities of teacher leadership

Zrudlo

2024

Educational Philosophy and Theory

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Iris Murdoch as Educator

Cited by 6 publications

References 17 publications

J.M. Coetzee, Eros and Education

J.M. Coetzee, Eros and Education

Education for metaphysical animals

The ethical and educational ambiguities of teacher leadership

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