Iris Murdoch A Reassessment

This book is an eclectic mix of essays that reposition Murdoch's work in relation to current debates in philosophy, theology, literature, gender and sexuality, and authorship. The essays refine, develop or contest previous readings, and blur the distinction between liberal humanist and theoretical positions, suggesting negotiations between them.

Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Notes on References and Abbreviations Preface; P.J.Conradi Introduction: 'A Large Hall of Reflection'; A.Rowe PART 1: REINSTATING THEOLOGY Reconsidering Murdoch's Moral Philosophy and Theology; M.Antonaccio 'All the World Must be Religious': Iris Murdoch's Ontological Arguments; S.Mulhall Iris Murdoch's Deconstructive Theology; S.Ramanathan PART 2: RECONSIDERING MORAL PHILOSOPHY Murdoch on the Impossibility of Moral Scepticism; E.Brugmans The Ethics of Self-Concern; S.Vice Virtue, Ethics, Self-Regard and The Sovereignty of Good; C.Mole PART 3: REVISITING 'THE SAINT AND THE ARTIST' The Ascetic Impulse in Iris Murdoch's Thought or The Saint and The Artist Revisited; M.Antonaccio The Curse of The Bell : The Ethics and Aesthetics of Narrative; B.Nicol PART 4: RE-READING LITERATURE Saint Iris? Murdoch and the Modern Literary Canon; N.Turner Houses of Fiction: Iris Murdoch and Henry James; P.Martin Accepting the 'Other': Iris Murdoch and Carol Shields; A.Ramon 'Policemen in Search of a Team': Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince and Ian McEwan's Atonement; A.Rowe PART 5: RENEGOTIATING GENDER, SEXUALITY AND FEMINISM Plato, Foucault and Beyond: Ethics, Beauty and Bisexuality in The Good Apprentice; T.Grimshaw Michele Le Doeuff and the Philosophical Imaginary; M.Altorf PART 6: REINVESTIGATING NEGATIVE CAPABILITY Iris Murdoch, Freud and Negative Capability; P.J.Conradi Alzheimer's Amyloid Analogy: Disease Depicted Through A Word Child; R.Isaacson Index

MARIJE ALTORF Lecturer in Philosophy, St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, UK MARIA ANTONACCIO Associate Professor of Religion, Bucknell University, USA EDITH BRUGMANS Professor of Philosophy, Leiden University and Associate Professor of Philosophy of Law, Radboud University, The Netherlands PETER J. CONRADI Emeritus Professor of English, Kingston University and Honarary Research Fellow, University College, London, UK TAMMY GRIMSHAW Recently completed her PhD studies at University of Leeds, UK RIVKA ISAACSON Currently undertaking post-doctoral investigations at Imperial College, London, UK PRISCILLA MARTIN Teaches English and Classics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, UK CHRISTOPHER MOLE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Philosophy/Neuroscience/Psychology Programme, Washington University, St Louis, USA STEPHEN MULHALL Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, New College, Oxford, UK BRAN NICOL Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Portsmouth, UK SUGUNA RAMANATHAN Retired as Head, English Department and Dean of Arts Faculty, St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad, India ALEX RAMON Part-time Lecturer, University of Reading, UK NICK TURNER Teaching Fellow, University of Manchester, UK SAMANTHA VICE Lecturer in Philosophy, Rhodes University, South Africa