Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals by Iris Murdoch

'Iris Murdoch has written a book which concerns all of us as human beings. There are pages here that one wants to embrace her for, pages that say things of fundamental human importance in a way that they have never quite been said before' Sunday Telegraph

The decline of religion and ever increasing influence of science pose acute ethical issues for us all. Can we reject the literal truth of the Gospels yet still retain a Christian morality? Can we defend any 'moral values' against the constant encroachments of technology? Indeed, are we in danger of losing most of the qualities which make us truly human? Here, drawing on a novelists insight into art, literature and psychology, Iris Murdoch conducts an ongoing debate with major writers, thinkers and theologians - from Augustine to Wittgenstein, Shakespeare to Sartre, Plato to Derrida - to provide fresh and compelling answers to these crucial questions.

Iris Murdoch

Reviews

“ This is philosophy dragged from the cloister, dusted down and made freshly relevant ”

Terry Eagleton, Guardian

“ Gripping...it enchants with a clause that sets you day-dreaming, captivates with a stream of thought, empowers with reminiscences ”

London Review of Books

“ It is a great congested work, a foaming sourcebook, about life, imagination, tragedy, philosophy, morality, religion and art ”

Independent

“ Remarkable... Iris Murdoch has once again put us all in her debt ”

New York Times Book Review

“ Anyone who has even the slightest interest in philosophical matters will find Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals an utterly absorbing book ”

Wall Street Journal

“ A thrilling read… Metaphysics is an invaluable demonstration of how relevant philosophical issues are to our everyday lives, particularly in our relationship to art ”

Lucy Bolton, Times Higher Education

EBook

9781409044055

September 30, 2012

Vintage Digital

544 pages
Online retailers
Paperback

9780099433552

May 1, 2003

Vintage Classics

544 pages

RRP $27.99
Online retailers
Or

Find your local bookstore at booksellers.org.au