Quotation
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“In the moral life the enemy is the fat relentless ego.”
Iris Murdoch · Moral philosophy · Modern · 1970
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is moral psychology. In the moral life the enemy is the fat relentless ego, a system of fantasy and self-concern stronger than the reasons we like to think we follow. A competing reading hears a religious scolding, or a denial that people can act decently. She is arguing with theories that picture the agent as a free chooser whose inner life is a shadow of public acts. The sentence is in 'On God and Good'. Fat and relentless say the ego does not yield to one sincere decision. Techniques for its defeat, attention and the discipline of looking, are the constructive part of the same essay. The sentence is not a reason to despise ordinary self-respect. It names a particular obstacle to seeing what is not oneself.
Did Iris Murdoch really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Murdoch's sentence in the second essay of The Sovereignty of Good. She has been describing the psyche, with Freud in mind, as a system of self-concern, and she calls this ego the enemy. The wording is hers.
Where it comes from
The Sovereignty of Good (1970), 'On "God" and "Good"', p. 52 of the Routledge edition
Approximate date: 1970.
How to use it
A person rewriting an email so as to be seen as the injured party is doing the thing she names, and the rewrite can feel like honesty. The sentence asks whether the energy is going into seeing the other person or into maintaining the self. It does not say self-respect is a vice. A criticism that uses the sentence only to win the exchange has joined the ego it quotes.
A mindset reading
Notice when an apparently moral thought is mostly about how you appear inside it. The habit is accusing, and she thinks it should be, including of the philosopher. It is not a general ban on having a self.
Understand the philosophy
The sentence belongs to the second essay of The Sovereignty of Good. The key phrase is the fat relentless ego. The essay then asks what could play the role that prayer played, as a discipline of attention, without requiring the theology she does not assume. 'I can only choose within the world I can see' is the first essay. The kestrel is the illustration of a moment when that ego goes quiet.
- ethics
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is moral psychology. In the moral life the enemy is the fat relentless ego, a system of fantasy and self-concern stronger than the reasons we like to think we follow. A competing reading hears a religious scolding, or a denial that people can act decently. She is arguing with theories that picture the agent as a free chooser whose inner life is a shadow of public acts. The sentence is in 'On God and Good'. Fat and relentless say the ego does not yield to one sincere decision. Techniques for its defeat, attention and the discipline of looking, are the constructive part of the same essay. The sentence is not a reason to despise ordinary self-respect. It names a particular obstacle to seeing what is not oneself.
Did Iris Murdoch really say this?
Well attested. Murdoch's sentence in the second essay of The Sovereignty of Good. She has been describing the psyche, with Freud in mind, as a system of self-concern, and she calls this ego the enemy. The wording is hers.
Which work is it in?
The Sovereignty of Good (1970), 'On "God" and "Good"', p. 52 of the Routledge edition Approximate date: 1970.