Iris Murdoch and the Search for Human Goodness

A noted philosopher and one of the most gifted and prolific novelists of the twentieth century, Iris Murdoch has anticipated and shaped many of the issues central to current ethics. These include the relation between human identity and ideas of the good, the effect of the modern critique of religion on moral thought, the relation between ethics and literature, and the contemporary debate about liberalism. In the most comprehensive engagement with Murdoch's work to date, this volume gathers contributions from philosophers, theologians, and a literary critic to explore the significance of her ideas for contemporary thought.

Inspired by Murdoch's tenacious wrestling with basic questions of human existence, these essays not only clarify her thoughts on human goodness, but also move beyond the academy to reflect on how we can and ought to undertake the human adventure in our daily lives.

* Contributors: Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, David Tracy, Cora Diamond, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Dipple, Franklin I. Gamwell, Stanley Hauerwas, William Schweiker * also includes "Metaphysics and Ethics," a classic essay by Iris Murdoch

Maria Antonaccio is assistant professor of religion at Bucknell University. William Schweiker is associate professor of theological ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School and is author of Mimetic Reflections: A Study in Hermeneutics, Theology, and Ethics and Responsibility and Christian Ethics.