Weil, Beauvoir, Murdoch: Three Women Philosophers in Mid-Twentieth Century Europe

Simone Weil (1909-44), Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86), and Iris Murdoch (1919-99) are towering figures in the history of European philosophy. Yet they have all, in different ways, become somewhat marginal to the philosophical mainstream. All three wrote on ethics. Weil wrote on labor, society, affliction, and grace. Beauvoir wrote novels, memoirs, and The Second Sex, a groundbreaking feminist analysis of women's situation. Inspired by Weil, Murdoch wrote about attention and the good and became one of the UKs leading novelists. The course will introduce students to their writing across genres, and situate their work about their respective national traditions.