The Iris Murdoch Society podcast cover art

The Iris Murdoch Society podcast

The Iris Murdoch Society podcast

By: Iris Murdoch Society
Listen for free

About this listen

 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-societyAll rights reserved
Episodes
  • Iris Murdoch's Moral Philosophy Podcast

    Iris Murdoch's Moral Philosophy Podcast
    Feb 26 2026
    In this episode Miles is joined by Cathy Mason (Central European University, Vienna) to discuss her new book, 'Iris Murdoch's Moral Philosophy: Reframing the True, the Real, and the Good'. https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Iris-Murdochs-Moral-Philosophy-by-Cathy-Mason/9780198940432 Cathy Mason is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at Central European University, Vienna and her main areas of research interest are Ethics, Epistemology (especially Moral Epistemology), Aesthetics, and Iris Murdoch's philosophical writing (particularly at the points where these areas converge). Her previous work has focused on the moral phenomena of everyday life, often drawing on virtue theory. She has written about a variety of topics such as friendship, love, mourning, forgiveness, hope and humility. Prior to coming to CEU, she held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Cambridge – where she studied for her PhD - and taught at the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham.
    Show More Show Less
    52 mins
  • Existentialists and Mystics 3 Podcast

    Existentialists and Mystics 3 Podcast
    Feb 23 2026
    In this episode we are returning to our close reading of the collection Existentialists and Mystics. For the third podcast of our mini-series, we’ll be discussing Murdoch's review of Gabriel Marcel’s ‘The Image of Mind’ and her essay ‘The Existential Political Myth’. The first is a review of The Mystery of Being by Marcel from 1951 – the first volume of his published volume of Gifford Lectures. Murdoch’s essay 'The Existential Political Myth' was first published in Socratic Digest in 1952. Joining me today is Samuel Filby who was the guest on the first episode of this mini series. He is currently working on his PhD thesis on Murdoch at Northwestern University, Chicago. His work focuses on Murdoch’s aesthetics and moral psychology.
    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
  • 75th Episode Podcast

    75th Episode Podcast
    Feb 16 2026
    In this 75th Episode Special, Miles is joined by Daniel Read (Kingston University, UK) to answer questions from the Iris Murdoch Society and via the social media channels. You can find out much more, and join the society, here: www.irismurdochsociety.org.uk The questions sent in are: 1. Could Iris Murdoch drive? 2. How should Murdoch’s philosophical seriousness be reassessed in light of recent scholarship on her as a public intellectual? 3. In what ways did Murdoch’s Irish background shape her imagination, ethics, and sense of exile or belonging? 4. How has Murdoch’s relationship with religion and the sacred been represented differently in scholarship versus media portrayals? 5. How should Murdoch’s private life—especially her complex relationships—be integrated (or resisted) in critical interpretations of her novels? 6. What is Murdoch’s place within post-war British women’s writing, and why has she often been treated as an exception rather than part of a continuum? 7. How do contemporary debates about feminism, agency, and power reframe Murdoch’s representation of women? 8. Murdoch insists on the reality of the Good as something external and authoritative. How might that claim speak to contemporary moral and political life, where moral language is often treated as subjective or unstable? 9. Murdoch’s late novels are often described as difficult, bewildering, even radically alien. How should we read the strangeness of the late Murdoch: as decline, experiment, or metaphysical intensification? 10. What do you think is the most important unfinished task for Murdoch scholarship today?
    Show More Show Less
    58 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.