The Moral Philosophy of Iris Murdoch

Reviewing her most famous philosophical work: “The Sovereignty of Good”

This work was harder than expected, and at times, I was quite lost without really grasping what Murdoch was trying to say. But I managed to grasp enough of it to make some coherence in her worldview, and I started to appreciate it the more time passed after I read it.

What I find so helpful about this book and why I decided to read it is the focus on the Good in the typical Platonic form. The formless yet hyper-real ground of reality that humans seek but can only glimpse of. It is very theological and religious in nature, but she approaches it from a purely secular perspective which is much needed to make such critical philosophical topics intelligible.

A lot of the book is actually about refutation, for her worldview to make sense in the culture and context she was in. A lot of time is spent arguing against the over-valuing of the will present in existentialism or the and neglect of the subjective experience with behaviourism. While the latter seems very obvious now, her arguments against existentialism are as valid as ever, as our culture seems to have deeply absorbed its philosophy, I believe for no other reason than thinking there is no other valid alternative. It seems egotistic in a way with its infatuation with freedom which I didn’t fully appreciate until I read this book.

In order to seek the Good, one must retreat from an obsession with the self. Even positive attributes which we take for granted, such as self-discovery, are in her view, misguided. Attention should be aimed at the Good, and the self is just as prone to illusion as everything else, and trying to decipher it won’t be fruitful.

A lot of it is incredibly abstract, yet it seems difficult to deny its reality. She gives reasonable examples in everyday life in which these views are readily accepted, but we don’t see its implicit philosophy driving it. We may live in a mechanistic worldview that can’t find objective morality, but in fact, our lives are primarily moral and not scientific.

To me, it always seemed almost self-evident how the Good is directly tied to Truth and Beauty, yet I’ve always struggled to articulate why that’s the case. In the last part of the book, she explores the notion that the Good can be most easily found in great art. Her articulation of Beauty was deeply poetic and yet, simultaneously, the most helpful philosophy I have encountered on the topic. It allows us to see the world and humanity beyond the self, which we are typically so obsessed with, and that allows us to have both a more accurate view of the world but also have a greater connection to the Good and thus to embody morality.

I also found her description of attention very interesting and not something I have thought of before. For example, her description of prayer and viewing it as an exercise of exposing the soul to “God” by selflessness managed to make me better appreciate the practice. This type of attention in praying (to God, The Good) is also present in art, which shows itself in what makes art meaningful by redirecting your attention to what truly matters. It is deeply entrenched in a metaphor of seeing, which of course, alludes to the connection with Truth. The journey of becoming a good person is the journey to learning to see, of properly paying attention. She often uses Plato’s allegory of the cave and its themes of knowledge and light to articulate these ideas better, which were both fascinating and helpful.

It’s a book that I should re-read at some point, for there is much that I missed. If you want to read it, be aware that it is difficult, and some philosophical background is not absolutely required, but it would definitely be helpful as she often focused on critiquing other philosophical views in order to validate her own.

While I think anyone can read it, it requires a lot of effort. I thought about giving up on the book often out of frustration. I initially planned to rate it 4 stars after finishing due to how difficult it was, but as it is often the case with hard books, when writing the review itself, I can’t help but think the effort was worth it and give it 5 stars.

If you have been captivated by the Platonic notion of the Good in its quasi-religious form, but find it hard to ground it in religious metaphysics, I think this book will be helpful in showing a different way of conceptualizing it. Furthermore, her articulation of how the Good relates to art, especially literature and painting, is a gold mine in itself regardless if you end up agreeing with her worldview as a whole.

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