In this episode we discuss Murdoch’s conceptualisation of virtue and what it might mean to be virtuous. We’ll range across her philosophy, of course, but we’ll also have time to visit her fiction and consider if she embeds some of her ideas about virtue into her novels.
Joining Miles to discuss this fascinating topic is Tony Milligan.
Tony is a Research Fellow in Philosophy of Ethics in the Theology and Religious Studies at Kings College, University of London. And his current research, as part of the KCL (China) team and the University of Manchester (Russia) team within the Cosmological Visionaries project, takes in the ethical aspects of dialogue building between local scientists, indigenous peoples and national minorities in Russia and China in the face of climate change. The key theme uniting his broader areas of research is otherness and our shared future. This works its way into various publications on Space (other places), philosophy of love (other people), and animals (other creatures). Tony is also an Affiliate of the Lau China Institute. For many years he’s been fascinated by Murdoch’s philosophy, indeed his PhD thesis at the University of Glasgow was titled 'Iris Murdoch’s Romantic Platonism' and he’s gone on to publish widely on her work.
--------
1:03:25
--------
1:03:25
A Word Child Revisited Podcast
Welcome to a new season of the Iris Murdoch Podcast! In this episode we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of Murdoch very best novels, and one of the six first-person male narrated novels, A Word Child. This is a revisit as we discussed this wonderful novel way back in 2021 – it was our ninth podcast and this episode is our seventieth! – so if you might want to catch up with that one if you love this novel. As you might expect, we also discuss a wide range of Murdoch's other novels.
Joining Miles is Frances White. Frances is the Deputy director of the IMRC here at Chichester and the author of many works on Murdoch, the most recent being the edited collection Iris Murdoch and the Western Theological Imagination (Palgrave, 2025)
And joining Frances and Miles is Liz Whittome. For many years she was the Chief and Principal Examiner of English for Cambridge Examinations. She has published several books on studying English at A-Level with Cambridge University Press. She is currently writing a monograph on Murdoch and Shakespeare.
--------
1:11:10
--------
1:11:10
Iris Murdoch Birthday Lecture 2025
In this lecture Miles Leeson, Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre at the University of Chichester, discusses Murdoch’s reception by her contemporaries and look at the lighter side of how she was lampooned, both directly and indirectly, in the work of H.E. Bates, Malcolm Bradbury, Brigid Brophy, Barbara Pym and Ian McEwan, as well as the reception of her work by Philip Larkin and Monica Jones. Whilst a good deal of this was affectionate, and some even complementary, there was also a streak of jealousy and cruelty present. As Murdoch grew in popularity, and as a public intellectual figure, this became commonplace and is part of the mythic figure of ‘Iris’ that was played out in the 2001 film, but has now has begun to fade from the public imagination. Miles’s lecture asks what it might mean for us to admire her work today in the light of these texts.
--------
47:45
--------
47:45
Existentialists and Mystics 2 Podcast
In this second episode focused on Existentialists and Mystics we’ll be reading two essays – ‘Thinking and Language’ and ‘Nostalgia for the Particular’ – together. If you’ve yet to listen to our prior episode on Murdoch earliest work on Sartre then you may wish to catch up with that, before you listen to us here.
Both essay were originally give as oral presentations. The first, ‘Thinking and Language’ came from a symposium entitled, naturally enough, Thinking and language and was part of a conversation between Murdoch, Gilbert Ryle and A.C. Lloyd in 1951. The second, ‘Nostalgia for the Particular’ was read at a meeting of the Aristotelian Society on the 9th June 1952. As both papers reference each other in their published form it seemed obvious to discuss them together on one episode.
Miles is joined by Lesley Jamieson. Lesley is an Assistant Professor and postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value at the University of Pardubice (Czechia) and her research has centred on the history of analytic philosophy (with a focus on women, especially Iris Murdoch). This work has resulted in a monograph entitled Iris Murdoch's Practical Metaphysics: A Guide to her Early Writings (Palgrave, 2023), as well as a number of articles on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of education.
Lesley's current research is an examination the practice of "public philosophy" just prior to and after the Second World War among such figures as Susan Stebbing, A. J. Ayer and Iris Murdoch.
--------
48:40
--------
48:40
Existentialists and Mystics 1 Podcast
Have you always thought you could do with some expert guidance when reading Iris’s philosophy? Well help is at hand! This episode marks the start of a new mini-series of episodes where we’ll be reading Iris’s collected essay collection – Existentialists and Mystics – with a team of excellent academics and seasoned readers, and you can join us for the experience! Each episode will focus on a small number of essays – or perhaps just one essay if it is substantial in length – and explore exactly what Murdoch was up to and how the essay fits in with her overall vision. We’ll keep in roughly chronological order, starting with her work from the 1950s and ending up in the mid-1980s with her two Platonic dialogues. Although Existentialists and Mystics doesn’t contain all of her published philosophy it’s a great place to start so, if you’ve not got a copy, you can pick one up very reasonably second-hand via this link:
https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?isbn=9780140264920&st=xl&ac=qr
In this episode we’re starting out with her earliest material on Existentialism – closely reading ‘The Existentialist Hero’ and ‘The Novelist as Metaphysician’ as well as her review of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity – all from 1950. The two essays were originally given as talks on BBC Radio’s The Third Programme; and are the groundwork for her first monograph, Sartre: Romantic Rationalist that would be published just a few years later in 1953.
Joining Miles is Sam Filby, currently working on his PhD thesis on Murdoch at Northwestern University, Chicago; and the current recipient of the BSH research fund. His work focuses on Murdoch’s aesthetics and moral psychology
The Iris Murdoch Society exists to promote her work, further her philosophical vision, and enhance and extend knowledge. You can find our website here: https://irismurdochsociety.org.uk/
You can find us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/IrisMurdoch
On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2213699051
And at Chichester University: https://www.chi.ac.uk/humanities/public-humanities/literary-and-cultural-narrative/iris-murdoch-research-centre/iris-murdoch-society
Deutschland