Our suggested reading group schedule includes a variety of books, articles, papers and audio. Here you will find them listed in the order that they appear throughout the 13 sessions. You can tailor the schedule to suit your group.
When possible we have provided links to websites where you can access articles online for free. Some of the links take you to Jstor.org where you will need to set up a free account. For everything else, most libraries should be able to help you access journal articles that require a subscription.
Re-writing C20th British Philosophy: Interview with Rachael Wiseman and Clare MacCumhaill
Part of the BBC’s Free Thinking Festival 2018.
Listen to the interview here (27 minute segment starting at 7:08)
MARY MIDGLEY
- Philosophical Plumbing
Midgley, M. (1992). Philosophical Plumbing. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 33, 139-151
Download article for free here or buy Midgley’s book Utopias, Dolphins and Computers: Problems in Philosophical Plumbing at bookshop.org - The Concept of Beastliness
Midgley, M. (1973). The Concept of Beastliness: Philosophy, Ethics and Animal Behaviour. Philosophy, 48(184), 111-135.
Extract: p113 “The general point…” to p122 “…in fact, invariably wicked”
Article available for free on Jstor.org - Individualism and the Concept of Gaia
Midgley, M. (2000). Individualism and the Concept of Gaia. Review of International Studies, 26, 29-44.
Article available for free on Jstor.org or buy Midgley’s book Science and Poetry at bookshop.org
PHILIPPA FOOT
- Natural Goodness: A Fresh Start?
The reading schedule focuses on A Fresh Start? in Foot’s book Natural Goodness and considers it over two sessions.
Foot, P. (2001). Natural Goodness. Oxford University Press
Article available with an institutional login at Oxford Scholarship Online or buy from bookshop.org - A Philosopher’s Defence of Morality
Foot, P. (1952). The Philosopher’s Defence of Morality. Philosophy, 27(103), 311-328.
Extract: p311-318
Article available for free on Jstor.org
IRIS MURDOCH
Existentialists and Mystics
The reading schedule focuses on two articles from Murdoch’s book Existentialists and Mystics.
Murdoch, I. (2014). Existentialists and Mystics. New York: Penguin Books
Buy from abebooks.co.uk – individual articles are also available online for free.
- Against Dryness
Murdoch, M. (1961). Against Dryness, A Polemical Sketch. Encounter, XVI, 16-20.
Download article for free here - The Darkness of Practical Reason
Murdoch, M. (1996). The Darkness of Practical Reason. Encounter, XXVI, 48
Download article for free here
ELIZABETH ANSCOMBE
- Modern Moral Philosophy
Anscombe, G. E. M. (1958). Modern Moral Philosophy. Philosophy, vol 53
Extract: p1-11
Download article for free here - ‘Thought and Action in Aristotle: What is ‘Practical Truth’?’
Anscombe, G. E. M. (1965). Thought and Action in Aristotle. What is Practical Truth?, in Bambrough, J. R. (ed.), New Essays on Plato and Aristotle, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 143-158.
Repr. in J. Barnes, M. Schofield, and R. Sorabji, eds., Articles on Aristotle 2: Ethics and Politics, London, 1977.
Repr. In Anscombe, G. E. M. (1981). From Parmenides to Wittgenstein. Oxford. Blackwell.
Buy From Parmenides to Wittgenstein from wiley.com - ‘The First Person’
Anscombe, G.E.M., 1981. Metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, Oxford: Blackwell. Chapter 2, p.21-36
Extract: p21 (beginning) to p25 (end) and p30 from ‘…It seems, then’ (near the bottom) to p36 (end)
Download article for free here
A FEMALE SCHOOL OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY? Anscombe, Foot, Midgley and Murdoch
MacCumhaill, C. and Wiseman, R. (2018). Anscombe, Foot, Midgley and Murdoch: A Female Philosophical School?. [online]
Download article for free here