Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life

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She argued that "the solipsism, scepticism and individualism that is characteristic of the Western philosophical tradition would not feature in a philosophy written by people who had shared intimate friendships with spouses and lovers, been pregnant, raised children, and enjoyed rich and full and varied human lives. Though I had heard of Philippa Foot in connection with the famous trolley problem, I knew little about her work, and I had never heard of the other two women, so I was fascinated to learn more about how these four women were a valuable counterweight against the logical postivists and the notion that philosophy should only be concerned with language and with statements that are demonstrably true or false. In my view, the productions of these philosophers are the most significant of the late 20th century, and certainly the most important since Wittgenstein. In the mid-twentieth century Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were philosophy students at Oxford when most male undergraduates and many tutors were conscripted away to fight in the Second World War.

And so many of the central figures in British philosophy – and elsewhere in Europe – have been male, mostly bachelors, mostly socially isolated or even alienated. For example, my understanding of the parable of the cave in relation to this time period's thought provided a strong foundation for the new ideas grown. I really enjoyed learning about these women’s lives and the book has sparked my interest in further reading their philosophies as well as exploring more feminine (feminist) metaphysical and moral perspectives, but this was a difficult read to stay focused on and enjoy for its own sake. Besides the specific philosophical issues Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman do an excellent job of showing the personal interrelationship of the four friends.I think I would have preferred all to be referenced by last name—especially after the women graduated with Firsts. This is most true of Elizabeth Anscombe whose translation of Philosophical Investigations helped to make this book a classic of 20th century philosophy. Written with expertise and flair, Metaphysical Animals is a vivid portrait of the endeavours and achievements of these four remarkable women.

This book had much more detail about the lives and philosophies of these women, so that it frayed the narrative a bit. Elizabeth Anscombe: defiantly brilliant, chain-smoking, trouser-wearing Catholic and (eventual) mother of seven. how women fought their way on to the world stage of philosophy and turned its spotlight away from an analytical desert on to what was really important - moral clarity, wisdom and truth. But this goes beyond the frameworks of standard group biography, it’s also a plea for a reflective form of philosophy that grapples with broader questions of how best to live well, and incorporates a useful introduction to the central schools of thought in British philosophy, over the early part of the twentieth century. Aristotle believed we could be good at living just as we can be good at sport or carpentry, and that virtuous qualities such as honesty and courage and prudence (phronesis in Greek) were the qualities that enable us to do so.Iris had a sunny room in East, Somerville’s new front quadrangle, while Mary’s was dark and at the other end of the oldest building, West. It fell to four women philosophers, each born in the years between 1918 and 1920, to object to this sad state of affairs. Also, after the first fifty pages or so I wondered how deeply this book about four philosophers could go without skimming the surface.

But the largest part of their studies would be devoted to Ancient Philosophy, along with its reception in Christian thought in the Middle Ages.

A fascinating account of key moments in the lives of four women who came together through their shared love of philosophy and dedication to thought. Philippa, reared as an aristocrat by governesses who taught her nothing, took the softer option of PPE (now the common choice of future British politicians) and achieved a first as well. The occasion of World War II, with its concomitant dispersal of the usual, overwhelmingly male, student body at Oxford and Cambridge into active service, as well as the arrival of intellectual Continental refugees, and the gradually revealed horrors of the Nazi regime, provide a unique opening for the four remarkable and brilliant protagonists of this narrative.