Perfecting Moral Concepts with Iris Murdoch in English Class

ABSTRACT

This article explores how, in English classes in secondary schools, students can perfect moral concepts such as love, honesty, and happiness. As the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch explains, people can perfect, or refine, moral concepts by paying attention to reality and altering their concepts in line with what is real. For Murdoch, the reading of literature is a means by which people can attend to reality and perfect moral concepts. Drawing on Murdoch’s ideas, this article presents a strategy for teaching students in English classes to perfect moral concepts through reading Romeo and Juliet and other works of literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics
• morality
• perfection
• literature
• Murdoch

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the journal’s editor and reviewers, as well as VCU’s Critical Reading Group, for their close readings of this article and their invaluable advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Although Murdoch values non-representational art, it can be difficult to see how such work offers images and figures people can use to see reality more clearly. Thus, it might be said that one thing some good works of art do is clarify what is real.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ross Collin

Ross Collin is an associate professor of English education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Virginia Commonwealth University, 3071 Oliver Hall, 1015 W. Main St., Richmond, Va 23284-2020, USA; email: [email protected]; office phone: [phone]. His interests centre on literacy, curriculum theory, and ethics.