A Hard Gemlike Flame: Murdoch's Ontological Argument -- The Sovereignty of the Good at 50 Chapter uri icon

Abstract

  • According to Murdoch, the Good is the “transcendent magnetic centre” of moral life. The Good shares many of the attributes traditionally assigned to God: it is a “single perfect transcendent non-representable and necessarily real object of attention.” This paper explicates, defends, and incarnates Murdoch’s proof of the Good: the ontological argument. It does so by considering a series of characters interpreting this proof. In stopping with each along the way, we progressively overcome certain forms of illusion and self-deceit. However, while these companions approach the Good, they are still “bound by words and images.” We have not understood Murdoch's proof until we see that it is less an argument and more a beacon. In this paper, we wait until we directly see the Good (as made incarnate in Murdoch's reflections on the proof). We watch until this glimpse trains us to see other incarnations of the Good, until its reality is proved “everywhere and by the whole of life.”