$43.49
Author: Lipscomb Benjamin J.B.
Number Of Pages: 360
Details: Product Description
The story of four remarkable women who shaped the intellectual history of the 20th century: Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch.
On the cusp of the Second World War, four women went to Oxford to begin their studies: a fiercely brilliant Catholic convert; a daughter of privilege longing to escape her stifling upbringing; an ardent Communist and aspiring novelist with a list of would-be lovers as long as her arm; and a quiet, messy lover of newts and mice who would become a great public intellectual of our time. They became lifelong friends. At the time, only a handful of women had ever made lives in philosophy. But when Oxford’s men were drafted in the war, everything changed.
As Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch labored to make a place for themselves in a male-dominated world, as they made friendships and families, and as they drifted toward and away from each other, they never stopped insisting that some lives are better than others. They argued that courage and discernment and justice–and love–are the heart of a good life.
This book presents the first sustained engagement with these women’s contributions: with the critique and the alternative they framed. Drawing on a cluster of recently opened archives and extensive correspondence and interviews with those who knew them best, Benjamin Lipscomb traces the lives and ideas of four friends who gave us a better way to think about ethics, and ourselves.
Review
“[the book] had me hooked for weeks” — Tom Stoppard, Books of the Year 2022, Times Literary Supplement
“immensely rewarding… [Lipscomb] traces each womanâs life touchingly, from a family background… through decades of work, to their most significant achievements… The book also works as a very readable introduction to Western moral philosophy.” — Katie Barron
“This well written book is a window into the intellectually and socially intense lives of four significant women in British philosophical and literary history,” — Margaret Hickey, Position Papers
“The story is fascinating. The Women Are Up to Something is certainly well worth reading.” — Bárbara Mujica , Washington Independent Review of Books
“Offers engaging accounts of the lives and writings of [these four] womenâ tells stories that rival in passion and intrigue anything that Elena Ferranteâs Neapolitan Novels have to offer and contain much to interest specialists as well as general readers.” — Alice Crary, Boston Review
“This book tells [these women’s] fascinating and intertwined personal stories, describes well the contemporary context and chronicles the success of women in a determinedly male world. It is just lovely to read.” — Christine King, Progressive Voices
“[a] rich mixture of biography and philosophy… [Lipscomb] skilfully conveys how scientistic philosophers plunged ethics into the subjectivity and delusoriness they sought to avoid, and how four female philosophers helped steer it towards a more human, socially objective realism.” — Jane O’Grady, The Daily Telegraph
“Revelatory” — , Prospect, Books of the Year 2021
“A wonderful story of four brilliant women whose audaciously unfashionable thought (as well as their attentive teaching and mentorship) has changed the face of the discipline.It is also a delightful story of love, friendship and eccentricity.” — Cathy Mason, Literary Review
“[Lipscomb] has produced a superior work of personal and intellectual history, sensitive and finely written.” — Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books
“Benjamin Lipscomb’s new group biography, The Women Are Up to Something, is a fascinating exploration of their life and thought… Lipscomb paints a vivid portrait not only of them as people, but also a moment in British philosophy too often told through the male line… Lipscomb’s book succeeds wonderfully in presenting a particular era in philosophy, and the huge influence of, in particular, Anscombe and Foot i
Release Date: 01-11-2021
Package Dimensions: 33x217x510
