Iris Murdoch and the Art of Imagining

(Hardback)

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Iris Murdoch and the Art of Imagining offers a new appreciation of Iris Murdoch's philosophy, emphasising the importance of images and the imagination for her thought.

This book is first and foremost a study of Iris Murdoch's philosophical work. It examines how literature and imagination enabled Murdoch to form a philosophical response to the decline of religion. It thus argues that Murdoch is an important philosopher, because she has not confined herself to philosophy. The book also reconsiders various contemporary assumptions about what philosophy is and does. Through Le Doeuff's notion of the philosophical imaginary, it examines the different ways in which images and imagination are part of philosophy.

Reviews

"A welcome addition to the growing secondary literature on the philosophical writings of Iris Murdoch." -Sabina Lovibond, Religious Studies, Vol. 45, 2009
Reviewed in The European Legacy, Vol. 16, No. 1
Iris Murdoch and the Art of Imagining highlights a little-noticed dimension of Murdoch's philosophy and invites more critical engagement with her thought... Altorf has helpfully opened doors that Murdoch tended to keep shut. One hopes other scholars will follow. -- Journal of Religion
'Altorf has created far more than a book on Iris Murdoch - imagery and imagination inspire the portrait of a woman philosopher. Employing the philosophical imaginary of Michle Le Doeuff, Altorf explores the art which captures the originality of Murdoch as a woman who writes novels and philosophy.' Pamela Sue Anderson, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford, UK
Mention -Book News, November 2008
Mention -Chronicle of Higher Education, January 23, 2009
"Altorf ... discusses Murdoch's objection to the widely held philosophical notion that the unexamined life is not worth living. She states that for Murdoch artists may portray moral ideals and actions that are not amenable to exact explanation. Thus we get a sense that it is perhaps through the imagination that one confronts the limits of imaging. Altorf's work opens an exploration of this notion as well as other intricacies of Murdoch's thinking, which will, I hope, prompt the reader to explore the depths of Murdoch's wide array of writings." - Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews -- Sharin N. Elkholy

Author Bio

Marije Altorf is Lecturer and Programme Director of Philosophy at St. Mary's University College, Strawberry Hill.