Description

The story of four remarkable women who shaped the intellectual history of the 20th century: Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch.

On the cusp of the Second World War, four women went to Oxford to begin their studies: a fiercely brilliant Catholic convert; a daughter of privilege longing to escape her stifling upbringing; an ardent Communist and aspiring novelist with a list of would-be lovers as long as her arm; and a quiet, messy lover of newts and mice who would become a great public intellectual of our time. They became lifelong friends. At the time, only a handful of women had ever made lives in philosophy. But when Oxford’s men were drafted in the war, everything changed.

As Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch labored to make a place for themselves in a male-dominated world, as they made friendships and families, and as they drifted toward and away from each other, they never stopped insisting that some lives are better than others. They argued that courage and discernment and justice–and love–are the heart of a good life.

This book presents the first sustained engagement with these women’s contributions: with the critique and the alternative they framed. Drawing on a cluster of recently opened archives and extensive correspondence and interviews with those who knew them best, Benjamin Lipscomb traces the lives and ideas of four friends who gave us a better way to think about ethics, and ourselves.

Publisher Review

Immensely rewarding… [Lipscomb] traces each woman’s life touchingly, from a family background… through decades of work, to their most significant achievements… The book also works as a very readable introduction to Western moral philosophy. * Katie Barron * [the book] had me hooked for weeks * Tom Stoppard, Books of the Year 2022, Times Literary Supplement * Revelatory * , Prospect, Books of the Year 2021 * [a] rich mixture of biography and philosophy… [Lipscomb] skilfully conveys how scientistic philosophers plunged ethics into the subjectivity and delusoriness they sought to avoid, and how four female philosophers helped steer it towards a more human, socially objective realism. * Jane O’Grady, The Daily Telegraph * What Lipscomb’s book does well is to paint a vivid and touching picture of the friendships between these four women, as they evolved through their lives. * Kate Manne, Times Literary Supplement * Benjamin Lipscomb’s new group biography, The Women Are Up to Something, is a fascinating exploration of their life and thought… Lipscomb paints a vivid portrait not only of them as people, but also a moment in British philosophy too often told through the male line… Lipscomb’s book succeeds wonderfully in presenting a particular era in philosophy, and the huge influence of, in particular, Anscombe and Foot in the field of ethics… Lipscomb is not only a powerful advocate for these thinkers, but he also tells their story with a combination of thoroughness and humour. His evocation of their cultural milieu, and the way each of them grappled with their ideas as well as with their world, is both adept and entertaining. * Peter Salmon, Prospect * A wonderful story of four brilliant women whose audaciously unfashionable thought (as well as their attentive teaching and mentorship) has changed the face of the discipline.It is also a delightful story of love, friendship and eccentricity. * Cathy Mason, Literary Review * [Lipscomb] has produced a superior work of personal and intellectual history, sensitive and finely written. * Thomas Nagel, London Review of Books * Professor Lipscomb’s ingenious method is to construct a multiple intellectual biography… The intertwined lives of these four, very remarkable women – the sheer intensity of their intellectual quests and of their emotional attachments, their contrasting characters and differing approaches to philosophy, their unifying mission to rescue ethics from the barren plateaus upon which it had been stranded by logical positivism and existentialism – all of this, Lipscomb brings to life in a virtuoso performance of its own, combining clear exposition of often complicated philosophical positions with an emotionally intelligent and highly readable example of the biographer’s art. * Oliver Letwin, The Tablet * A welcome corrective to a narrative that centers men at the heart of post-war Oxford philosophy…fascinating and important…The biographical aspect of Lipscomb’s book is excellent…These stories are interesting for their own sake, but also heartening for women who suffer still today from such feelings and problems. * Sheryl Misak, Philosopher’s Magazine * Lipscomb draws from an impressive collection of sources to give us an insight into the lives, characters, and work of these four brilliant women, both showing how their ideas developed through their life experiences, and painting a very vivid picture of Oxford philosophy in the first half of the past century… highly recommended. The narrative is captivating and easily accessible to the general reader… thought-provoking and absorbing… an important contribution to the increasing number of books that aim to unearth the neglected contributions of women to philosophy. * Elly Vintiadis, The Philosopher * Lipscomb’s subjects are depicted in whirlwind portraits of emotional effusiveness, bohemian squalor, and general eccentricity. The book is scattered with delightful anecdotes…[it] entails a celebration of pluralism. It reminds us of the value of listening to others, of entertaining and attending to a heteroglossia of ideas, attitudes, and opinions… it stands out as a timely reminder of how to see nuance in a polarised world. * Cora MacGregor, Oxford Review of Books * Enthralling highly readable Lipscomb has cast his net very wide in his research and managed to interview or correspond with a huge number of people with relevant memories, some of them alas no longer with us. The resulting slice of intellectual history, with its lively and sympathetic portraits of these path-breaking women, fully bears out the back-cover blurb from Anthony Kenny, who confirms the authenticity of the books background and praises it as compulsively readable. Other readers, even those without a background in philosophy, will surely agree. * Lesley Brown, Oxford Magazine * [A] refreshing group biography… Lipscomb keeps things centered on [the] friendship, making powerful use of newly opened archives and the philosophers’ unpublished correspondence, as when he brings Oxford to life using Murdoch’s letters to friends. This credible corrective couldn’t have arrived at a better time. * , Publishers Weekly * Offers engaging accounts of the lives and writings of [these four] women tells stories that rival in passion and intrigue anything that Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan Novels have to offer and contain much to interest specialists as well as general readers. * Alice Crary, Boston Review * The story is fascinating. The Women Are Up to Something is certainly well worth reading. * Barbara Mujica, Washington Independent Review of Books * Benjamin Lipscomb paints in vivid colours the encounter and long-lasting friendship between Elisabeth Anscombe, Philipa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch. * Marie Daouda, Engelsberg Ideas * This book tells [these women’s] fascinating and intertwined personal stories, describes well the contemporary context and chronicles the success of women in a determinedly male world. It is just lovely to read. * Christine King, Progressive Voices * The Women Are Up To Something, is a more conventional biography of these same four women. Although it inevitably covers much of the same ground as Metaphysical Animals, it does so in a more ortho- dox, more objective,…He also provides much more biographical and philosophical detail about the quartet’s main protagonist, R.M. Hare, tracing his philosophical development from the rather mystical work he wrote as a POW, which he never published, through to his final endorsement of a version of utilitarianism. All of this makes Lipscomb’s book a good companion volume to Mac Cumhaill and Wiseman. * Marie McGinn, Society * With the publication of The Women Are Up to Something, Benjamin Lipscomb has provided us with a work of original scholarship, a gripping narrative, and a compelling argument about a key period in twentieth century moral philosophy * John Berkman, The Heythrop Journal * This book is most appropriate for the philosophy student or academic, yet its many anecdotes and insights into the personal lives and decisions of these brilliant women demonstrate that philosophical movements, broad cultural currents, and life-and-death decisions are still made by real people who live real lives and who make choices in the quiet of their consciences. * John M. DeJak, Chronicles * Lipscomb’s book is an admirably researched piece of scholarship, and compulsively readable… The style and content make this an attractive introduction for newcomers interested in learning something about both their philosophical views and their lives, and it could be a helpful companion to both the interested layperson as well as to students. What is most valuable about the book, in my view, is the rich and evocative picture one gets of the lives of these four women. * Nicholas Sparks, Genealogies of Modernity * This book is a window into the intellectually and socially intense lives of four significant women in British philosophical and literary history…It is the kind of book that makes its readers want to delve more deeply into its subject matter and that really makes it a very worthwhile read indeed. * Margaret Hickey, GRIPT * .. offer more than philosophies in the feminine: a portrait of thought in the central decades of yestercentury. * , ArquitecturaViva 245 * This well written book is a window into the intellectually and socially intense lives of four significant women in British philosophical and literary history. * Margaret Hickey, Position Papers * Lipscomb gives an excellent summary of the body and trajectory of each woman’s individual work…[the book] offer[s] an important and rare look into the role of community and friendship in shaping thought, belief, and life. * Amy Frykholm, Christian Century * Lipscomb has told a wonderful story – a story that had to be told…he provides the first sustained engagement with the contribution of these women, their lives and ideas… This is a book that will engage those with an interest in the history of philosophy and ethics, particularly those who welcome the highlighting of the significant but often hidden contribution of women in this field. * Janet Dyson, REtoday magazine * In showing us some of the virtues that make possible cooperation across difference, Lipscombs book does a valuable service. If we can learn from it, the quality of public debate and discussionon social media, in publications, and in the academycould be greatly improved. * Peter Blair, FareForward * The Women Are Up to Something is certainly a good read, and a fine work of intellectual history (and a bit more) that will surely leave many readers wanting to know even more about the women, their work, and 1940s Oxford. * , Complete Review * Four women, friends from studying at Oxford during and after the second world war, revolutionized the field of moral philosophy. At male-dominated Oxford, live issues of moral philosophy had for long been as unheard as the voices of women philosophers. Philippa Foot, Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch developed their positions in distinct but overlapping ways, fortified by lasting and sustaining friendships. The difference they made brought about the single biggest change in moral philosophy for over a century, replacing arid scholasticism with rich discussions of goodness, virtue, and character. This lively and well-informed book tells us how the intertwined lives of four women philosophers also tell us the story of moral philosophy waking up after a long dogmatic slumber. It’s a wonderful story which will keep any reader turning the pages. * Julia Annas, Regents Professor Emerita, Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona * This is a compulsively readable book about a remarkable quartet of women who kept philosophy alive in Oxford during the second world war, and who gave it a new direction after the postwar return of the men. As a survivor of the main period of this story I can attest to the authenticity of its background, and I relished the vivid portraits of each of the heroines. It is a book which will fascinate not only those with an interest in the history of philosophy, but even more those who welcome women’s major contributions to fields traditionally the preserve of men. * Sir Anthony Kenny, Emeritus Fellow, St John’s College, University of Oxford * Four of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century were friends at Oxford during World War II; they were women in a field still dominated by men; and they rebelled against a picture of ethics as the play of subjective attitudes, values to be set against the hard facts of science. Benjamin Lipscomb’s book about Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch is absorbing, personal, and intellectually thrilling–at once a vivid recreation of a deep philosophical friendship and a timely defence of objectivity in ethics. I wish I had written it! * Kieran Setiya, Professor of Philosophy, MIT *