instructors:
Justin Broackes (Brown),
Cathy Mason (CEU),
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza (UPCE/Tübingen),
Rachael Wiseman (Liverpool)
dates: July 14th-18th, 2025
deadline for application: March 30th, 2025 (please see below for further details)
location: Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätstrasse 7, 1010 Wien
Overview of the Topic
Although Iris Murdoch is still best known for her novels, her philosophical work is finally beginning to receive the recognition that it deserves. An Oxford philosopher, educated during the Second World War and later employed there as a lecturer, Murdoch’s philosophy marks a significant departure from the dominant analytic tradition of her place and time: a return to a philosophy deeply attuned to the human condition and to metaphysical thinking. Murdoch’s ideas began to develop with a critique of the prevailing approaches to language and thought, later evolving into a novel conception of ethics. Engaged with both analytic and continental traditions, she proposed vision as the basic category of evaluation and freedom as the ability to see the world rightly, rather than as detachment from it. As opposed to the amoral view of metaphysics, she sought to reanimate the concept of a world that finds meaning through “the Good”. She writes in dialogue with a diverse range of philosophers, including Plato, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, French existentialists, and Derrida, among others, and she has had a strong influence on some of today’s best-known philosophers, including Cora Diamond, John McDowell, Martha Nussbaum, and Charles Taylor.
The summer school aims to bring together promising young philosophers with some of the leading experts on Murdoch’s philosophical work. Participants will have the chance to engage with her major themes, uncover less-explored aspects of her work, and contribute to the ongoing discussion of her ideas with their own research.
Highlights of the Summer School
- Keynote lectures by renowned Murdoch scholars
- Thematic discussions and interactive workshops
- Panel discussions with experts and participants
- Student presentations with opportunities for feedback
Keynote Speakers
Justin Broackes (Brown University)
Justin Broackes’ research interests include metaphysics and epistemology, the history of 17th and 18th century philosophy, theory of color and color-perception, and ancient philosophy. He is also working on a commentary on the Sovereignty of Good and is editing a collection of essays on her work.
Cathy Mason (Central European University)
Cathy Mason works at the intersection of ethics, epistemology, in particular, moral epistemology, and aesthetics. Her research on Iris Murdoch’s philosophical writings converges on these areas. She is currently writing a book on Iris Murdoch’s metaethics, focusing on three core Murdochian ideas: truth, realism, and the Good. Previously, Cathy Mason has worked on the moral phenomena of everyday life, drawing on virtue theory, and the topics of friendship, love, mourning, forgiveness, hope and humility.
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza (UPCE/Tübingen)
Silvia Panizza’s main area of expertise is ethics. She is particularly interested in the nature of ethical discourse, the reality and knowledge of moral facts, motivation for thought, feeling and action, and moral disagreement. She also works on questions pertaining to the relationship between humans and other animals and the place of humans in the natural world; moral issues in literary fiction and the importance of language as well as mysticism in the work of Simone Weil.
Rachael Wiseman (University of Liverpool)
Rachael Wiseman’s research is in philosophy of mind, action and ethics and the history of analytic philosophy. Particularly, her work has concentrated on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein, G.E.M. Anscombe and the “Wartime Quartet” (Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch). Her and Clare MacCumhaill (University of Durham) direct the Women In Parenthesis project. They have also co-authored the book Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life on the biography of the Quartet.
Application & Fees
We welcome applications from PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and advanced MA students in philosophy and related disciplines. To apply for participation, please send the following documents to Matt Dougherty (doughertym@ceu.edu):
- Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages)
- Statement of Purpose (no longer than 1 page), explaining the relevance of the summer school to your study, research, teaching and/or other professional work
- Statement of Financial Aid (optional). We can offer partial financial support (including the coverage of the school fees) to the participants whose home institutions cannot cover their expenses. We therefore ask the applicants who wish to be considered for funding to briefly describe their situation in the statement.
- Abstract (optional; max. 250 words). If you would like to present your work at the summer school, please send us a short abstract of your presentation. Since the number of slots for student presentations is limited, this will help us decide on how to allocate them.
The summer school fee is 75 Euros. The fee includes the student union fee of 25 Euros, which is required by Austrian law to register at the University of Vienna and to receive a certificate of completion of the summer school.
Please, submit your application by March 30, 23.59 CET.
Contact Email: doughertym@ceu.edu
We will notify you of the decision by April 7, 23.59 CET.
Diversity Statement
We strongly encourage applications from members of disadvantaged and underrepresented groups.
Organizing Committee
Paulina Sliwa
Matt Dougherty
Sebastian Aster
Maria Fedorova
Bojin Zhu
The VDP Summer School 2025 is funded by the Vienna Doctoral School of Philosophy (University of Vienna).
