Iris Murdoch’s Ethics of Vision and the Moral Significance of Literature
Keywords:
ethics of vision, Iris Murdoch, realism, truth, imagination, egocentrism, literatureAbstract
The main purpose of this essay is to argue for the importance of literature for ethics and moral life, taking Iris Murdoch´s thought as a starting point. First, it will be shown how Murdoch’s ethics of vision emerges from her critique of basic presuppositions of
current moral philosophy. Then we’ll clarify the sense of the concept of truth, which she uses to maintain that overcoming egocentrism and reaching a just and truthful vision of reality are basic moral tasks. This elucidation will allow us to argue that literature may contribute to directing attention to reality and seeing it in a realistic,
truthful way, overcoming egocentric inclinations that mislead us to see things, not as they are, but as we would like them to be. We’ll also conclude that literature and the
creative imagination it displays help us to obtain an understanding of the particular circumstances in which moral problems originate; an understanding we need to deal adequately with them.
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