3 Feb
2025
3 Feb
'25
11:30 a.m.
Dear colleagues,
We invite applications for the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy
Summer School 2025, 'The Philosophy of Iris Murdoch'.
The details can be found below and on the summer school webpage:
https://pace.phl.univie.ac.at/the-philosophy-of-iris-murdoch/.
Instructors: Justin Broackes (Brown), Cathy Mason (CEU), Silvia Panizza
(UCD/UPSE), Rachael Wiseman (Liverpool)
Dates: July 14th-18th, 2025
Deadline for application: March 30th, 2025
Location: Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätstrasse 7, 1010 Wien
Overview of the Topic
Although Iris Murdoch is still best known for her novels, her
philosophical work is finally beginning to receive the recognition that
it deserves. An Oxford philosopher, educated during the Second World War
and later employed there as a lecturer, Murdoch’s philosophy marks a
significant departure from the dominant analytic tradition of her place
and time: a return to a philosophy deeply attuned to the human condition
and to metaphysical thinking. Murdoch’s ideas began to develop with a
critique of the prevailing approaches to language and thought, later
evolving into a novel conception of ethics. Engaged with both analytic
and continental traditions, she proposed vision as the basic category of
evaluation and freedom as the ability to see the world rightly, rather
than as detachment from it. As opposed to the amoral view of
metaphysics, she sought to reanimate the concept of a world that finds
meaning through “the Good”. She writes in dialogue with a diverse range
of philosophers, including Plato, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer,
Wittgenstein, Heidegger, French existentialists, and Derrida, among
others, and she has had a strong influence on some of today’s best-known
philosophers, including Cora Diamond, John McDowell, Martha Nussbaum,
and Charles Taylor.
The summer school aims to bring together promising young philosophers
with some of the leading experts on Murdoch’s philosophical work.
Participants will have the chance to engage with her major themes,
uncover less-explored aspects of her work, and contribute to the ongoing
discussion of her ideas with their own research.
Application & Fees
We welcome applications from PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and
advanced MA students in philosophy and related disciplines. To apply for
participation, please send the following documents to Matt Dougherty
(doughertym(a)ceu.edu):
1. Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
2. Statement of Purpose (no longer than 1 page), explaining the
relevance of the summer school to your study, research, teaching and/or
other professional work
Statement of Financial Aid (optional). We can offer partial financial
support (including the coverage of the school fees) to the participants
whose home institutions cannot cover their expenses. We therefore ask
the applicants who wish to be considered for funding to briefly describe
their situation in the statement.
3. Abstract (optional; max. 250 words). If you would like to present
your work at the summer school, please send us a short abstract of your
presentation. Since the number of slots for student presentations is
limited, this will help us decide on how to allocate them.
The summer school fee is 75 Euros. The fee includes the student union
fee of 25 Euros, which is required by Austrian law to register at the
University of Vienna and to receive a certificate of completion of the
summer school.
Please, submit your application by March 30, 23.59 CET.
Contact Email: doughertym(a)ceu.edu
We will notify you of the decision by April 7, 23.59 CET.
Diversity Statement: We strongly encourage applications from members of
disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.
Organizing Committee
Paulina Sliwa
Matt Dougherty
Sebastian Aster
Maria Fedorova
Bojin Zhu
The VDP Summer School 2025 is funded by the Vienna Doctoral School of
Philosophy (University of Vienna).