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clayton_sanborn's review
3.0
The original title--Oxford's Hypatias--would have been better, I think. I was thinking I would have better reading their work, but unlike Caste, it's not really of any detriment to the book as that's part of what it wants to accomplish
the_dragon_starback's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
This was really good! Super engaging, all four of the subjects were interesting, and I enjoyed the philosophical discussions as well. It did feel anticlimactic at the end, which I think was due to how Anscombe, Murdoch, Foot, and Midgley all separated by the end of their lives and sorta died alone and in sadness. But still very good, and I'm deeply upset that my public library refused to get it because it was "too academic."
cais's review
5.0
4.5
“What came of it all? The world never halts, waiting for philosophers’ theories…The four friends shone a new, old light on the human landscape. They let us see ourselves differently, and better.”
What were the women up to? Nothing less than revolutionizing the Oxford-style, male-dominated field of philosophy. They were also forming friendships, having love affairs, causing some controversies, trying to secure jobs & make a buck. Though (I’m going 1st name basis) Elizabeth, Philippa, Iris & Mary came from quite different backgrounds & had very different personalities, they were united by their commitment to rich philosophical discussions & truth seeking.
WWII largely cleared most male students out of Oxford for a while, which meant the women had more space, more time with tutors & could start to develop the thinking that would mature later on. The WWII era led many men to develop & embrace theories of a value-free universe where values such as right & wrong are mere projections (think Existentialism, Emotivism). Many of the most vocal & admired male philosophers were “committed to a metaphysical picture on which the things the Nazis did were not objectively wrong. And that was the thought that [these four women] were determined to resist.”
Resist they did! Images from the death camps or face-to-face experience with war’s victims – the realities of people’s lives – further led them to believe that “there are moral truths, grounded in the distinctive nature of our species.” Individually, together & with some guiding lights (Wittgenstein, for one) they developed their arguments against what they saw as faddish thinking, against a philosophical tribalism that was “antithetical to truth-seeking.” It was ups & downs as far as progress, but they persisted, each in her own way, sometimes on diverging paths.
Besides providing a portrait of the four women, this book works as a really good philosophy primer. To understand any of these women’s lives & their work, you have to have a grasp of the philosophy they were contending with. This book very coherently explains the mid-20th century British & Continental philosophy that was so influential it still holds sway over people today. He also explains the problems with this thinking & the women’s responses to it very clearly.
It’s a great book, constructed so well in how it goes back & forth in time to explain each woman’s philosophical journey & the dynamics of their friendships.
“What came of it all? The world never halts, waiting for philosophers’ theories…The four friends shone a new, old light on the human landscape. They let us see ourselves differently, and better.”
What were the women up to? Nothing less than revolutionizing the Oxford-style, male-dominated field of philosophy. They were also forming friendships, having love affairs, causing some controversies, trying to secure jobs & make a buck. Though (I’m going 1st name basis) Elizabeth, Philippa, Iris & Mary came from quite different backgrounds & had very different personalities, they were united by their commitment to rich philosophical discussions & truth seeking.
WWII largely cleared most male students out of Oxford for a while, which meant the women had more space, more time with tutors & could start to develop the thinking that would mature later on. The WWII era led many men to develop & embrace theories of a value-free universe where values such as right & wrong are mere projections (think Existentialism, Emotivism). Many of the most vocal & admired male philosophers were “committed to a metaphysical picture on which the things the Nazis did were not objectively wrong. And that was the thought that [these four women] were determined to resist.”
Resist they did! Images from the death camps or face-to-face experience with war’s victims – the realities of people’s lives – further led them to believe that “there are moral truths, grounded in the distinctive nature of our species.” Individually, together & with some guiding lights (Wittgenstein, for one) they developed their arguments against what they saw as faddish thinking, against a philosophical tribalism that was “antithetical to truth-seeking.” It was ups & downs as far as progress, but they persisted, each in her own way, sometimes on diverging paths.
Besides providing a portrait of the four women, this book works as a really good philosophy primer. To understand any of these women’s lives & their work, you have to have a grasp of the philosophy they were contending with. This book very coherently explains the mid-20th century British & Continental philosophy that was so influential it still holds sway over people today. He also explains the problems with this thinking & the women’s responses to it very clearly.
It’s a great book, constructed so well in how it goes back & forth in time to explain each woman’s philosophical journey & the dynamics of their friendships.
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