Morality as Attention: the Ethical Dictionary of Iris Murdoch

Authors

  • Anna Głąb Katedra Historii Filozofii Nowożytnej i Współczesnej KUL

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15633/lie.155

Keywords:

Iris Murdoch, Simone Weil, ethical cognitivism, attention, morality, consciousness, imagination, goodness, moral perception

Abstract

The article approaches Iris Murdoch’s moral philosophy from the perspective of ethical cognitivism, according to which attention, rather than will, is the crucial moral category. At first the author presents a general outline of Murdoch’s ethics, focusing (1) on her interpretation of the relation between metaphysics and ethics and her concept of goodness and (2) her understanding of consciousness and imagination. This is followed (3) by Murdoch’s ethical dictionary in which the concepts of moral perception and (4) of attention (which Murdoch reconstructed from Simone Weil’s texts) play a most important role. Next, (5) the conception of morality as attention is set in the context of Murdoch’s neotheology and (6) her aesthetic views about art, which she conceives as a case of morals. Finally (7) the author presents three views on morality that can be derived from Murdoch’s novel The Bell.

Author Biography

  • Anna Głąb, Katedra Historii Filozofii Nowożytnej i Współczesnej KUL

    Anna Głąb – doktor filozofii, adiunkt w Katedrze Historii
    Filozofii Nowożytnej i Współczesnej KUL. Wydała: Rozum w świecie praktyki. Poglądy filozoficzne Marthy C. Nussbaum, Ostryga i łaska. Rzecz o Hannie Malewskiej, jako redaktor:
    Filozofia i literatura. W druku: antologia Etyka i literatura. Zainteresowania: filozofia współczesna, filozofia literatury, etyka, historia filozofii.

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Published

2013-12-31

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 2 (2013)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2013 Anna Głąb

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