Iris Murdoch and the Problem of Dualism

This chapter contends that earlier Murdoch’s monism subsides into a form of dualism later in her life. These inconsistencies, or discontinuities, are explored through the lenses of three different thinkers: Saint Paul, William Blake and Carl Gustav Jung. Murdoch’s interest in the former’s dualism is discussed alongside her fiction, her philosophy and her annotations to philosophical texts. Despite her disagreements with Blake and Jung, her dialectical picture of morality is similar to theirs, asking for an acknowledgement of evil. Her philosophy tentatively acknowledges a substantive form of evil, while her fiction demonstrates the degrees of evil we can find when we acknowledge both sides of the duality of moral experiences. The chapter focuses on three central texts, The Time of the Angels, The Philosopher’s Pupil and ‘Above the Gods’.