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Single Idea 22338

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 2. Invocation to Philosophy ]

Full Idea

An unexamined life can be virtuous.

Gist of Idea

An unexamined life can be virtuous

Source

Iris Murdoch (The Sovereignty of Good [1970], I)

Book Ref

Murdoch,Iris: 'The Sovereignty of Good' [RKP 1974], p.1


A Reaction

Nice. A firm rejection of the intellectualist view of virtue, to which most Greeks subscribed. Jesus would have liked this one.

Related Idea

Idea 343 The unexamined life is not worth living for men [Socrates]


The 15 ideas from 'The Sovereignty of Good'

Philosophy moves continually between elaborate theories and the obvious facts [Murdoch]
An unexamined life can be virtuous [Murdoch]
Philosophy must keep returning to the beginning [Murdoch]
Literature is the most important aspect of culture, because it teaches understanding of living [Murdoch]
Love is a central concept in morals [Murdoch]
If I attend properly I will have no choices [Murdoch]
It is hard to learn goodness from others, because their virtues are part of their personal history [Murdoch]
Kantian existentialists care greatly for reasons for action, whereas Surrealists care nothing [Murdoch]
Moral philosophy needs a central concept with all the traditional attributes of God [Murdoch]
Ordinary human love is good evidence of transcendent goodness [Murdoch]
Appreciating beauty in art or nature opens up the good life, by restricting selfishness [Murdoch]
Moral reflection and experience gradually reveals unity in the moral world [Murdoch]
Only a philosopher might think choices create values [Murdoch]
Only trivial virtues can be possessed on their own [Murdoch]
Art trains us in the love of virtue [Murdoch]