The Earthy Realism of Plato's Metaphysics, or: What Shall We Do with Iris Murdoch?

Robjant, David

doi:10.1111/j.1467-9205.2011.01455.x

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Antonaccio appeals to philosophers who have theoretical views about the reality of the good and who like or need to organize these views into theoretical taxonomies of alternative positions. Murdoch surely is not hostile to theory, 6 but this kind of summing up of  5 For discussions on this topic, see Antonaccio 2000, Altorf 2008and Robjant 2012 6 She notes, e.g., that "Ethical theory has affected society and has reached as far as the ordinary man, in the past, and there is no good reason to think that it cannot do so in the future. (…) there can be no substitute for pure, disciplined, professional speculation" (1997,362).…”

Section: Traditional Metaphysicsmentioning

confidence: 98%

What is Metaphysics in Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals?

Hämäläinen

2013

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Iris Murdoch is known for defending metaphysical thinking in the anti-metaphysical atmosphere of mid-and late 20th-century analytic philosophy. Yet, she does not present anything easily recognizable as a metaphysical theory in her own writings, but rather circles around her preferred neo-Platonic metaphysical imagery in various ways. But what, then, does she mean by metaphysics? I argue in this paper that it is essential for understanding Murdoch's place in 20th-century thought -and the direction she points out -to understand the peculiar nature of her own contribution to metaphysics in her late work. To elucidate this issue, I will discuss three aspects of what she means by metaphysics in her late book Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals: 1) traditional metaphysical theories or systems (and why she doesn't present one); 2) metaphysics as underlying worldviews; and 3) metaphysics as 'heuristic images' of our understanding of the world.

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Section: Traditional Metaphysicsmentioning

confidence: 98%

What is Metaphysics in Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals?

Hämäläinen

2013

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“…If one thought so, Murdoch's argument is that one has already taken on a substantive moral position. David Robjant () describes Murdoch's position in the following way: ‘Murdoch is not allowing that the everyday is a realm of the literal to be separated from metaphysics by the threshold of metaphor. There is no separation and no threshold.…”

Section: The Dualism Of Splitting Our Minds Our Naturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been tempting for philosophers to privilege certain forms to get across content, that is to say, explicit arguments and analysis to posit claims and particular ways to understand ideas. ‘Against this’, Robjant () rightly points out, ‘Murdoch argues that the use of imagery [i.e. myths] to understand the world is something natural and indispensable, so that [a] preparedness to openly construct images is not a sign of flight from the everyday world, but, as in poetry, of deep engagement with it’ (p. 49).…”

Section: The Dualism Of Form and Content Or Philosophising And Moralmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Iris Murdoch's Critique of Three Dualisms in Moral Education

Nakazawa¹

2018

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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There is a sustained critique of autonomy in Iris Murdoch's work in moral philosophy and moral education. I explicate Murdoch's arguments against a moral education that aims at autonomy, showing that this kind of moral education is ensnared in problematic dualisms: a fact and value dualism (sometimes discussed as a dualism between metaphorical concepts and empirical concepts); a dualism of moral and non‐moral human nature; and a dualism of philosophising and moralising (or form and content). If the dualisms go unacknowledged, I contend, the moral educator is left with the confused task of providing the foundation of moral autonomy in a morally neutral way. I argue, drawing on Murdoch's work, that there is another kind of moral education that is free of such dualisms. On this view, moral education is basic and ubiquitous. It does not aim at moral autonomy, but instead aims at the development of moral vision, a capacity to see reality more clearly. While Murdoch's conception of moral education throws moral autonomy out of the picture, Murdoch's conception of moral education is attractive because it is not beset by dubious dualisms.

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“…For further discussion of this see Robjant , to which this present article adds some connected resources.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nauseating Flux: Iris Murdoch on Sartre and Heraclitus

Robjant¹

2012

European J of Philosophy

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I observe Iris Murdoch's distinctive use of the word ‘flux’ in discussion of Sartre's Nausea and show that her usage is persuasive and revolutionary, first as Sartre exegesis, second as Heraclitus exegesis, and throughout as a contribution to the philosophy of language. Murdoch's usage of ‘flux’ frames a comparison of Sartre's Roquentin with other figures who have had similarly flowing experience but without nausea. Roquentin's plight is shown to be ‘a philosopher's plight’ precipitated by a defective theory of descriptive success. I then show how the Heraclitean fragments would support Murdoch's treatment of flux and on close analysis contradict the established view exemplified in the work of Wittgenstein and Jonathan Barnes. Flux is not a variety of change, and the river image ‘cannot be analysed into non‐metaphorical components without a loss of substance’.

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The Earthy Realism of Plato's Metaphysics, or: What Shall We Do with Iris Murdoch?

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

What is Metaphysics in Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals?

What is Metaphysics in Murdoch’s Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals?

Iris Murdoch's Critique of Three Dualisms in Moral Education

Nauseating Flux: Iris Murdoch on Sartre and Heraclitus

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