Iris Murdoch on Philosophy and Literature: Section 1

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16 жыл бұрын

The areas in which philosophy and literature overlap are examined in this program by renowned Oxford novelist Iris Murdoch. Style and structure in philosophical writing are compared and contrasted with those in literature. The narrative abilities of Plato, Schopenhauer, and Kant are examined. Philosophy's predilection for accepting only literature that supports its theories is discussed as a source of antagonism between the two disciplines.

Пікірлер: 128

@groovynut222 10 жыл бұрын

I wish we had programmes like this now.

@4nxy Жыл бұрын

we do

@enantiodromia 11 ай бұрын

I don't, I don't want reruns of old programmes.

@user-ny7by3ds5d 9 ай бұрын

@@4nxywhat are they😢

@monikagwerder 13 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for uploading this! It is wonderful to hear her voice! When I was a teenager I read all her books; Iris Murdoch introduced me to..well, almost everything through her fiction; philosophy, the idea of contingency, love, the classics,..She has been such a major figure in my life, and yet I never heard her beautiful voice or watched her beautiful and kind demeanor until now. It means so much to me! Thank you

@tshandy1 2 жыл бұрын

Reading "The Sea, the Sea" now and I must say, her command of the novel form is extraordinary. The insights are genuine, the language sharply precise. Every paragraph is a joy to read.

@leeabbey4257 Жыл бұрын

Snap!

@Burncourtable 14 жыл бұрын

In 1998, not long after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Iris Murdoch disconcerted friends by asking, "Who am I?", a question she almost at once answered herself, "Well I'm Irish anyway, that's something." As the mind of the brilliant novelist and philosopher faded, she still clung to a deep identification with Ireland. Her Irish connection was reflected in a lifetime's intellectual and emotional engagement and - before her illness

@artistsandbox 14 жыл бұрын

"cheering oneself up by giving form to something" -- I like that line

@stanley8869 2 жыл бұрын

Amazing to finally hear her voice. It is remarkable that there was such a program on TV. The second question focuses on her sentences describing them as translucent! The 70s was a civilised but slightly shabby period. A quiet different era.

@Hammer332 12 жыл бұрын

What makes Russell such a master, is his wit. Reading the History of Western Philosophy, one is often riven with laughter, such is his cutting humour.

@ecaepevolhturt 11 жыл бұрын

I'm currently one third into "Under the Net". So far it is fantastic. I recomend her fiction to anyone who likes to read.

@jenslyn87 11 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for posting all these great interviews! If you ever find more of this stuff, please do upload it:)

@Discovery_and_Change 6 ай бұрын

I found out about Iris from an app called Enliven that showed me one of her quotes: 'We can only learn to love by loving."

@classicmovieclub9760 14 жыл бұрын

thank u very much we are doing philosphy for a literature module at the moment and having someone like Iris talking about it - it makes it so intresting I could listin to this for hours

@fgrod 16 жыл бұрын

Murdoch was a totally formed human - she experienced it all - her bio by Conradi is fascinating - the movie Iris was really good.

@1951GL 7 жыл бұрын

This is from the BBC "Men of Ideas" series, broadcast before "The Great Philosophers" and to my mind, the better series. From 1963 Iris had been lecturing at the Royal College of Art in London. Bryan Magee actually engages with her in this discussion and the focus is deliberately on what is said. When he interviewed Martha Nussbaum in the second series, he clearly fancied her. In the time available she was excellent on Aristotle, even though we the viewers, at least this one, felt we were intruding. Compare this, from the seventies, with the current tv diet of "celebrity" and pop "Wannabees" squawking down the microphone - and laugh or cry depending on your mood or whether you have a decent drink in your hand.

@bretvz1408 12 жыл бұрын

I've never heard of her, or this show, but I enjoyed listening to her.

@joeruf6526 9 жыл бұрын

Out of all of these interviews I've seen this is the one where Bryan is most aggressive. Iris was such a genius and amazingly remained humble; choosing to think with him instead of disregarding him making the dialogue richer. Something missing from todays conversations. I wish the feminist movement or whoever promotes over looked women in the arts and philosophy would promote her more.

@BenNCM 9 жыл бұрын

Iris is awful. She comes across like she is winging it all the time. Muttering incoherently. This is the worst video of the series.

@joeruf6526 9 жыл бұрын

I disagree. i think Bryan Mcgee had something against her. He's more ascertive and pestering than he is with the others. It's the only person he interviews where he feels forced to let the other person know his point of view. "Honest nonsense is better than getting it precisely wrong" is something one of Iris' characters said. I think that answers your criticism rather well. Even if sometimes she does seem wandering. If one reads her it's her giving primacy to honesty instead of bs.

@BenNCM 9 жыл бұрын

Again, I disagree with you. She wanders a lot. It's annoying and if you know Brian Magee and his style, you already know that the man can summarize a philosopher's statements on the fly with zero hassle. The dialogues in the other videos (especially with Peter Singer) are joyful to watch unfold and never falter in their pace. Murdoch was a bad choice of guest as she requires time to think and then convey her thoughts.

@joeruf6526 9 жыл бұрын

I could agree with that on some level. You are right that this video sticks out. But that fact that shes' the only woman (Martha Nussbaum has a penis) gives it a certain something... I like the way she stayed poised while he tried to somewhat outsmart her in a Bertrand Russelly way... I thought she did a good job and conveying their difference... I would also argue that you should follow what you find annoying about her and not be so entrenched in "getting it right". Tho point taken.

@BenNCM 9 жыл бұрын

Joe Ruf I take your point

@flame0430 16 жыл бұрын

The rest is uploading, it'll all be up soon!

@indiebandit1 12 жыл бұрын

wow I wish there was more intellectual discussion going on these days. This is remarkably fascinating

@MsCuriousturtle 7 ай бұрын

Today they would call this elitist. In the US, they prize aggressiveness over intelligence.

@rchlboyd 14 жыл бұрын

Thank you for posting this.

@lagirasole 15 жыл бұрын

Can anybody tell me when this program was broadcast on TV? I'm writing a dissertation on Iris Murdoch and this video would come in handy...

@jimbopumbapigsticks 13 жыл бұрын

Aristotle may have been a good writer - we only have his lecture notes.

@Israe5l 14 жыл бұрын

The second video is far more powerful. I might say its the deepest philosophy video I have seen.

@beholdmyswarthyface0 14 жыл бұрын

Wonderful. Thanks for posting. She looks a bit like Hegel.

@paparodendro1 16 жыл бұрын

Wonderful material for the n th time. Many thanks flame0430.

@edfredmen 14 жыл бұрын

I agree, but Murdoch and Magee were talking about the problems of philosophy, which Plato elaborated thus setting the agenda for philosophical discourse down the centuries - and that is the context in which Aristotle had such an inestimable influence. There is an extent, I think, to which Aristotle could not have had that influence had not Plato first delimited the territory.

@calumajmacmillan 11 жыл бұрын

how is this not on TV anymore???

@fatmaenisehikmel4370 3 жыл бұрын

Dame Iris Murdoch 👏🏻👏🏻📚📚👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 real Platonist

@alexasmithy 12 жыл бұрын

Very enjoyable thank you

@sandager4628 Жыл бұрын

Hegel's writing is notoriously difficult and can be challenging to understand, especially for those not well-versed in philosophy. Here's an example from his "Phenomenology of Spirit" that is often cited as being particularly difficult to comprehend: "The self-conscious spirit is, however, in its own self the negative, and hence is the opposite of its own essential nature; this is the abyss which sunders its own self and in which it loses its own self, but which at the same time, as the negation of its own self, has equally the opposite significance of being the restoration of itself."

@SiriTunn 11 жыл бұрын

what was this show called?

@Hobgoblin93ZZZ 13 жыл бұрын

Hmm, Makes me wonder what Iris' view of Alexander Mcall Smiths Novels, the philosophy in the 'Sunday Philosophy Club' series works very well into the novels.

@reginaldmolethrasher437 4 жыл бұрын

Magee: Do you write differently when you write literature, compared with philosophy? Murdoch: Yes, literature mystifies, while philosophy clarifies. Magee: Reading your work, I find that literature mystifies, while philosophy clarifies. Haha! Murdoch: Yes, that's about it. Magee: So - I think I'm recalling your words correctly - you say that philosophy clarifies, while literature mystifies? Would that be right? Murdoch: Yes.

@ignotumperignotius630 4 жыл бұрын

hmm. So she thinks literature is the same as philosophy.

@MrSeanMDickinson 14 жыл бұрын

I'd love to find that couch!

@IrishandJazz 9 жыл бұрын

Someone below talked about Bertrand Russell : I regret my purchases of his books. I keep his History of Western Philosophy by my bedside, but wonder is it's not just within the Readers' Digest mould ... Not that I have any training in philosophy, but I sometimes feel BR is not up to much in his own right. Just a feeling I get ...

@jasonluery1111 11 ай бұрын

She was preeminently insightful about form and Form.

@randomdave30 8 жыл бұрын

"To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worthwhile. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter" - Aleister Crowley.

@saimak7079 8 жыл бұрын

A newspaper discourse is 'canned chatter'?

@randomdave30 8 жыл бұрын

Depends which papers you read.

@naradaian 2 жыл бұрын

The old man knew MSM was not a freespeech medium back in presumably the 1920’s unless it was his psyops war work

@jimbopumbapigsticks 13 жыл бұрын

@Anglican08 Given that Cicero called his writing style a "river of gold", I'd say he was probably a great writer.

@Anglican08 13 жыл бұрын

@jimbopumbapigsticks Yes, Copleston made that point, we only have Plato's popular works & not his lectures, the opposite is true for Aristotle.

@spikearchie 14 жыл бұрын

this is lovely.....

@kotkotando 13 жыл бұрын

flame0430 thank you so much !

@hoturtu87 13 жыл бұрын

I am at an existential crossroad. Should I go deeper into philosophy? What is philosophies end. Structures of meaning, signs and symbols.A map of the subconscious mind. Or is imagination more powerful than knowledge? Should all minds be structured alike or should each individual apprehend the unknown with a mind that's free of dogma and cultural superstition.Maybe humanities lack of knowledge is humanities best attribute. So, should philosophy conceal more than it reveals?

@Badgerinthenight 15 жыл бұрын

I personally think that jmonroe64 makes a good point. Most everyday people who have no interest in intellectual pursuits, which accounts for in my opinion, most of the population.. the uneducated or little educated that is, do have difficulty fully grasping philosophical concepts, i know this as I have studied philosophy and my friends consist of University trained academics to working class labourers, all whom I hold in equal esteem but consequently due to their professions, I have very

@suren1946 16 жыл бұрын

Indeed!

@robinorwell6242 4 жыл бұрын

does anyone know what year this is from?

@johnrobinson6526 3 жыл бұрын

I believe this interview was in 1978.

@apexxxx10 11 жыл бұрын

Excellent site thanks. Bangkok Johnny

@sjohnson1216 2 жыл бұрын

Oh, you're the connection. I was watching a video on Max von Sydow and then this popped up. Brilliant.

@Kenneth_the_Philosopher 12 жыл бұрын

This is one of the most funniest comments I have ever read. I laughed to hard after reading the comment and watching the video. She really do look like the famous pen and ink picture of Hegel.

@a.n.c.australia 2 жыл бұрын

Alright. I'll be plain on this one. Bryan Magee **invited** someone for an interview. An invitation, most of the time, and especially in this televised context is a sincere act. And then Iris Murdoch had the idea, possibly Iris Murdoch 's idea, let us play a *game of dialogue* in order to illustrate better the type of thing literature, and especially Theater, looks like. Let us do a practical demonstration of this fact, in order for the viewers to get the point that Literature is important in... education.

@sjohnson1216 2 жыл бұрын

game o'dialogue=dialogesthai

@MJJLWolf 16 жыл бұрын

What year is this from?

@phlexiblephilosophy 2 жыл бұрын

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@redetrigan 16 жыл бұрын

Source?

@misterdalloway89 12 жыл бұрын

Great.

@iLuvAkeys4ever 12 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing. Gtcha

@drieaz 2 жыл бұрын

A great voice

@Discovery_and_Change 6 ай бұрын

2:13 Iris begins

@lagirasole 15 жыл бұрын

I'm writing a comparative dissertation on Dostoevskii's works and her novels. I don't even have a proper title yet :)

@SuperKare123 14 жыл бұрын

who are the writer's he metioned??????

@Adam-ui3ot 2 жыл бұрын

Why have I only just seen this.

@Hozms 14 жыл бұрын

Literature influences Philosophy and vice versa. GOSH.

@jjmini 11 жыл бұрын

I think i have the biggest crush on iris murdoch....

@calum66 7 жыл бұрын

I hadn't realised she played Judy Dench.

@Mike8981 5 жыл бұрын

oh yes,. Dame Irish was great as Judy Dench!

@suren1946 16 жыл бұрын

the Bhagavad Gita for one. And if u read the basics of Vedanta, you.ll see obvious paralells with early greek thinkers, like Heraclitus, Parmenides, and yes, Plato.

@tianapitesr8553 7 жыл бұрын

Well anything you like to add about her? Just wiki'd!

@ev3goddess 2 жыл бұрын

True english majorskan rR great educators witt zoo tolerans 4 iii cant aha-upplevelse gotta love Theselius det

@dedbusted 12 жыл бұрын

Understanding does bring joy as well as knowledge and knowing how to deal with the world. Philosophy is not a useless mental exercise. Psychology, science, math, as well as theology are in debt to philosophy. Philosophy teaches reason and reason leads to technology and a better life. If you want to discard philosophy, you might as well discard math, language, and politics. I think you have a misunderstanding of what philosophy is.

@4nxy Жыл бұрын

who is the interviewer?

@jamesjameson4566 Жыл бұрын

Bryan magee

@yharyhar8 15 жыл бұрын

RATHERer!

@redetrigan 16 жыл бұрын

Hehe, I like that she keeps her coat on.

@sjohnson1216 2 жыл бұрын

that's hilarious

@doridora 15 жыл бұрын

if he didnt have this glasses he would look like Thomas Bernhard

@Upfront24 15 жыл бұрын

literchure

@Kobe29261 2 жыл бұрын

The only burden equal to supreme intelligence in a woman is tenderness in a strong man! The world does not forgive either!

@AndrewStergiou 13 жыл бұрын

Intelligent speaking but narrow in a scope of culture which remains throughout unclear literature of all types are literature the questions were not posed well and did little good bi great view expressed here in any case western civilization not know for honesty changes the rules as they like.

@steppenwolf543 5 жыл бұрын

she has voice like Bertrand Russell of is this some special accent?

@lagirasole 15 жыл бұрын

I wish it was as funny to me :) But thanks anyway ;)

@daheikkinen 14 жыл бұрын

Actually Aristotle had a much more important impact on modern life than Plato. Apple and microsoft, for instance, stems from Aristotle's divisions and categories. As does genetics. If Aristotle is the IPad, Plato is the Bible. Although I'd rather read Plato.

@you2begin 15 жыл бұрын

Hey check out kerou(.)net He's a new cartoonist whos work borders on literature. Theres elements of genius in his work.

@yharyhar8 15 жыл бұрын

I heard that Iris loved a quarter pounder though

@ninatheresia1204 3 жыл бұрын

Is she the daughter of Titanic's 1st officer William McMaster Murdoch? 😅

@dantean 14 жыл бұрын

Uhhhh...it's the latter.

@anneokelly8413 10 жыл бұрын

I get the impression he's trying to promote himself ... Wonder if Iris was fed up .... Anyway, people with extraodinary sur-intelligence like Iris's, can lead all the rest of us by the nose. I always end a IM book feeling I've been lead up the garden path; led to believe I was in for some Dostoevkyan grandeur ... and feeling it's all boils down to Woman's Own. The consolation is in the great descriptions of Nature I suppose.

@necessarily 9 жыл бұрын

Anne O'Kelly McGee has written quite a bit on Philosophy two series of Interviews on contemporary philosophers. And has written a book on Schopenhaur, a rather extensive work He wrote a book on what it is to undergo a philosophic training from personal experience, as an ordinary researcher as he also recalled his Oxford days. He is basically, I would say, in British terms, middle to lower class socially. So that, his ascent socially is driven under his own talent rather than social class. He stood for Member of Parliament in Britain, I can't rem. if he won ! He has been rather wide-ranging journalistic way, at the junction of Phil., social issues and education. Early on he wrote, rather daringly, on the social life of lesbians and gays in England. He has written on Wagner. SO THAT... I don't think he is showing off. He is constantly asking his interviewees to explain for the audience what some particular concept or word means. I experience him as brilliant actually. His interviews are immensely informative. Among the best is the interview with W.V. Quine & Naussbaum on Aristotle.To Quine he blasted (sth. to the effect): "the whole world disagrees with you" when quine said there is no such a thing as a mind: only physical (macro.micro) processes. Quine said distinction bt. Phi. and Sci. is superfluous since they are on the same spectrum -- Phil. being at highest level of abstraction. [me thinks: i here Quine merely replaces mind stuff with abstract entities, which of course is no consolation. Personally I don't see Quine as 'having a philosophy', but of having created a vast framework for doing further philosophy, as it were, properly. This may be one and the same as broad perspective of Russell's. BRIAN MCGEE tried to open him up a bit. It was as difficult as making men cry ! In other words, as such, it didn't really happen ! OF COURSE, Iris Murdoch, got her training in Phil. from Wittgenstein, but she left his supervision to befriend Elias Caneti (as one of a flock of women he had around him, quite openly). Murdoch would stay with the Nobel Laureate for a very long time indeed. She learnt her craft from him. Murdoch's philosophical writings are very deep indeed and she found Caneti in the end as intolerable "he is pathetic!" she had decided. I find. Her literary talent enables her to speak philosophy in a unique way. THE 4TH part of the interview, the very last few minutes she talks about her Phil. of Art and of Literature.

@alexderosa4063 11 жыл бұрын

Philosophy should stop worrying about justifying itself as a discipline and just go on creating new and more useful vocabularies to supplant the old worn out vocabularies.

@TooTanya22 13 жыл бұрын

one said one did one is one self aahhh shit...

@Badgerinthenight 15 жыл бұрын

its just an opinion, you dont have to like it! but its not fair for you to call people names cause u dnt like what they say.

@BobTheViking24 15 жыл бұрын

Heh, there's more evidence that Greek philosophy influenced Eastern. A not unsubstantial part of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition can be traced to the influence of the Bactrian Greeks.

@jmascisss 5 жыл бұрын

Who's Irish Murdoch?

@Mike8981 5 жыл бұрын

lol

@dantean 14 жыл бұрын

The continentals HAD 2 insist the bad romantic poetry they pawn off as philosophizing is not 2 be held to a truth standard b/c of language's 4ever obscuring access 2 any "real" world as cover for not understanding the world. Heidegger can then miss that nazism is bad & Sartre the same w respect to communism. I don't care 2 read the analytics either but inuslting them as behind the curve compared 2 existentialists, phenomenologists, post/structuralists, & decons is ludicrous. Paul de Man anyone?

@AndrewStergiou 13 жыл бұрын

sorry button did not work

@dominique2693 3 жыл бұрын

Of course great journalism can be literature.Oh really??

@jimbopumbapigsticks 14 жыл бұрын

Aristotle a bad writer . . . what the hell is Magee on about? River of gold, and all that.

@suren1946 16 жыл бұрын

all philosophy a footnote to Plato?? He copied almost ALL HIS STUFF from the East! What HE wrote was a footnote to THAT.

@sjohnson1216 2 жыл бұрын

You were there, I guess.

@Badgerinthenight 15 жыл бұрын

differing conversations with. I don't think he is 'ranting' at all, only merely stating his/her opinion, and whats this all about 'stop' ranting, inplying theyve done it before.. i can see no such evidence, I tihnk that people should be able to express their opinions without being had a go at and called abusive names like 'moron' or 'stubborn' as you cannot divulge a persons personality or complete intent from a little youtube messge...miggerino, i think you should try to act a little more adult

@alexderosa4063 11 жыл бұрын

I could not disagree more with Murdoch: Philosophy is just another literary genre, a creative activity: it redescribes the world in ingenious and inventive ways, but any pretense to "dispense of illusion" presupposes that it has access to some non-human, language independent Truth. Her attitude is Kantian in the sense that she wants philosophy to be more "scientific", but not even science is "scientific" in the way that it pretends to be.