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Metaphysical animals : how four women brought philosophy back to life / Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Doubleday, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First American editionDescription: xv, 398 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780385545709
  • 0385545703
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue: Mr Truman's degree, Oxford, May 1956 -- On probation, Oxford, October 1938-September 1939 -- Learning in wartime, Oxford, September 1939-June 1942 -- Disorder and hardship, Cambridge & London, June 1942-August 1945 -- Park Town, Oxford, Brussels, Graz, Cambridge & Chiswick, September 1945-August 1947 -- A joint 'No!', Oxford & Cambridge, October 1947-July 1948 -- Back to life, Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin & Vienna, October 1948-January 1951 -- Metaphysical animals, Newcastle & Oxford, May 1950-February 1955 -- Epilogue: Mr Truman's degree, again, Oxford, May 1956 -- Afterwards.
Summary: "A vibrant portrait of four college friends--Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary Midgley--who formed a new philosophical tradition while Oxford's men were away fighting World War II. The history of European philosophy is usually constructed from the work of men. In Metaphysical Animals, a pioneering group biography, Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman offer a compelling alternative. In the mid-twentieth century Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were philosophy students at Oxford when most male undergraduates and many tutors were conscripted away to fight in the Second World War. Together, these young women, all friends, developed a philosophy that could respond to the war's darkest revelations. Neither the great Enlightenment thinkers of the past, the logical innovators of the early twentieth century, or the new Existentialist philosophy trickling across the Channel, could make sense of this new human reality of limitless depravity and destructive power, the women felt. Their answer was to bring philosophy back to life. We are metaphysical animals, they realized, creatures that can question their very being. Who am I? What is freedom? What is human goodness? The answers we give, they believed, shape what we will become"-- Amazon.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 192 M133 Available 33111010990865
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 192 M133 Available 33111010861082
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A vibrant portrait of four college friends--Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary Midgley--who formed a new philosophical tradition while Oxford's men were away fighting World War II.

The history of European philosophy is usually constructed from the work of men. In Metaphysical Animals, a pioneering group biography, Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman offer a compelling alternative. In the mid-twentieth century Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were philosophy students at Oxford when most male undergraduates and many tutors were conscripted away to fight in the Second World War. Together, these young women, all friends, developed a philosophy that could respond to the war's darkest revelations.

Neither the great Enlightenment thinkers of the past, the logical innovators of the early twentieth century, or the new Existentialist philosophy trickling across the Channel, could make sense of this new human reality of limitless depravity and destructive power, the women felt. Their answer was to bring philosophy back to life . We are metaphysical animals, they realized, creatures that can question their very being. Who am I? What is freedom? What is human goodness? The answers we give, they believed, shape what we will become.

Written with expertise and flair, Metaphysical Animals is a lively portrait of women who shared ideas, but also apartments, clothes and even lovers. Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman show how from the disorder and despair of the war, four brilliant friends created a way of ethical thinking that is there for us today.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-371) and index.

"A vibrant portrait of four college friends--Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, and Mary Midgley--who formed a new philosophical tradition while Oxford's men were away fighting World War II. The history of European philosophy is usually constructed from the work of men. In Metaphysical Animals, a pioneering group biography, Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman offer a compelling alternative. In the mid-twentieth century Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were philosophy students at Oxford when most male undergraduates and many tutors were conscripted away to fight in the Second World War. Together, these young women, all friends, developed a philosophy that could respond to the war's darkest revelations. Neither the great Enlightenment thinkers of the past, the logical innovators of the early twentieth century, or the new Existentialist philosophy trickling across the Channel, could make sense of this new human reality of limitless depravity and destructive power, the women felt. Their answer was to bring philosophy back to life. We are metaphysical animals, they realized, creatures that can question their very being. Who am I? What is freedom? What is human goodness? The answers we give, they believed, shape what we will become"-- Amazon.

Prologue: Mr Truman's degree, Oxford, May 1956 -- On probation, Oxford, October 1938-September 1939 -- Learning in wartime, Oxford, September 1939-June 1942 -- Disorder and hardship, Cambridge & London, June 1942-August 1945 -- Park Town, Oxford, Brussels, Graz, Cambridge & Chiswick, September 1945-August 1947 -- A joint 'No!', Oxford & Cambridge, October 1947-July 1948 -- Back to life, Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin & Vienna, October 1948-January 1951 -- Metaphysical animals, Newcastle & Oxford, May 1950-February 1955 -- Epilogue: Mr Truman's degree, again, Oxford, May 1956 -- Afterwards.

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