TITLE: FREEDOM, FICTION, AND THE MORAL IMAGINATION: IRIS MURDOCH’S LITERARY RESPONSE TO EXISTENTIALISM
Abstract
This article explores Iris Murdoch’s philosophical engagement with existentialism, especially the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre, through her novels. Existentialist thought emphasizes autonomy, choice, and the construction of meaning in an absurd world. Murdoch, however, critiques this moral framework by offering a morally realist alternative that foregrounds attention, love, and the reality of others. Through close readings of The Sea, The Sea and The Nice and the Good, this article argues that Murdoch reshapes the novel as a medium of moral exploration, rejecting Sartre’s view of the self as sovereign in favor of a vision grounded in relational ethics and the transcendent Good.
References
1. Murdoch, Iris. The Sea, The Sea. Penguin Books, 2001.
2. Murdoch, Iris. The Nice and the Good. Penguin Books, 1978.
3. Murdoch, Iris. "Against Dryness." Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature, edited by Peter Conradi, Penguin Books, 1999, pp. 287–295.
4. Murdoch, Iris. "The Idea of Perfection." The Sovereignty of Good. Routledge Classics, 2001, pp. 1–45.
5. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness. Translated by Hazel E. Barnes, Routledge, 2003.
6. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism Is a Humanism. Translated by Carol Macomber, Yale UP, 2007.
7. Weil, Simone. Waiting for God. Translated by Emma Craufurd, Harper Perennial, 2001.