Perfecting Moral Concepts with Iris Murdoch in English Class

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how, in English classes in secondary schools, students can perfect moral concepts such as love, honesty, and happiness. As the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch explains, people can perfect, or refine, moral concepts by paying attention to reality and altering their concepts in line with what is real. For Murdoch, the reading of literature is a means by which people can attend to reality and perfect moral concepts. Drawing on Murdoch’s ideas, this article presents a strategy for teaching students in English classes to perfect moral concepts through reading Romeo and Juliet and other works of literature.