Images of Reality
Iris Murdoch's Five Ways from Art to Religion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3265658 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Edgar Burns (0000-0001-7009-9948, Heythrop College, University of London, corresponding author), Elizabeth Burns (0000-0002-3808-0195) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 875-890 |
| Publication date | 2015-07-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel6030875 |
| OpenAlex | W2157696832 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
Art plays a significant role in Iris Murdoch's moral philosophy, a major part of which may be interpreted as a proposal for the revision of religious belief. In this paper, I identify within Murdoch's philosophical writings five distinct but related ways in which great art can assist moral/religious belief and practice: art can reveal to us "the world as we were never able so clearly to see it before"; this revelatory capacity provides us with evidence for the existence of the Good, a metaphor for a transcendent reality of which God was also a symbol; art is a "hall of reflection" in which "everything under the sun can be examined and considered"; art provides us with an analogue for the way in which we should try to perceive our world; and art enables us to transcend our selfish concerns. I consider three possible objections: that Murdoch's theory is not applicable to all forms of art; that the meaning of works of art is often ambiguous; and that there is disagreement about what constitutes a great work of art. I argue that none of these objections are decisive, and that all forms of art have at least the potential to furnish us with important tools for developing the insight required to live a moral/religious life
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Art methodology · Contemporary art · Epistemology · Metaphor · Religious belief · Theology · Theory of art · Work of art · Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art · Philosophy · Philosophy and Literary Analysis · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |