The Ethics of Attention: Engaging the Real with Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil

This book explores the importance of attention in ethics, drawing on Iris Murdoch's philosophy and engaging with other thinkers such as Simone Weil and contemporary debates on moral perception and motivation. It argues that attention is fundamental to morality and that our actions, choices, and perceptions are determined by whether we pay attention and what we attend to.

Format: Hardback
Length: 180 pages
Publication date: 06 June 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Why is attention important to morality? This book argues that many moral failures and moral achievements can be explained by attention. Not only our actions and choices, but the possibilities we choose among, and even the meaning of what we perceive, are to a large extent determined by whether we pay attention and what we attend to. In this way, the book argues that attention is fundamental, though often overlooked, in morality. While the book's discussion of attention revolves primarily around Murdoch's thought, it also engages significantly with Simone Weil, who introduced the concept of attention in a spiritual context. The book also engages with contemporary debates concerning moral perception and motivation, empirical psychology, animal ethics, and Buddhist philosophy.

The Ethics of Attention will be of interest to researchers and advanced students working on Iris Murdoch, Simone Weil, ethics and moral psychology, and the philosophy of attention.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367756932