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Analysis Of Iris Murdoch 's ' Morality And Religion

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In Iris Murdoch’s ‘Morality and Religion”, she discusses the balance between the conscious morality of human nature and the connection between a supernatural being of religious beliefs. Murdoch writes on the topic of virtue, if there can only be one true concept of it, or if there are multiple ideas or beliefs that create it. Murdoch then goes to discuss the difference between virtue and duty, which ultimately comes down to three types: virtue ethics, duty ethics, and pragmatic ethics. When she speaks of morality, she questions if good behavior has any part of religious idealism or if a nonreligious being could foster just as good behavior. Then leading into the feeling of guilt and if morality relates to it. Finishing her passage in the thought of whether religion is moral in nature and if high morality is essentially religion. Murdoch states that, “the most evident bridge between morality and religion is the idea of virtue”. Which can be well argued that it is; Virtue is the sense of moral excellence, righteousness, and goodness. We all have some form of virtue imbedded in us whether it may be a conscious, a higher form of thinking, or just following the rules set before us by society on what is right and wrong. The idea of duty, or known as generalized goodness, is what it refers to. Like Murdoch says, “Why go?’ ‘I promised,’ ‘Why go,’ ‘because he is an old friend”(pg 364), relates to the duty we all have in us. Everyone’s sense of duty goes deeper than a religious

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