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Work #1036 · Early

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

Iris Murdoch
1953 (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge) · English
Philosophical-critical study · Twentieth-century British philosophy / engagement with French existentialism

Iris Murdoch's 1953 short study of Sartre — her first published book and the founding statement of her philosophical-literary engagement with French existentialism

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (Early)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

The early-1950s moment of British engagement with French existentialism; Murdoch's own intellectual formation.

Space

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

Paris (where Murdoch had been) and Cambridge (where she now wrote); the British-French philosophical exchange.

Matter

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

The textual matter of Sartre's philosophical works; Sartre's own embodied presence in 1940s-50s Paris.

Observer

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

Murdoch as British-analytical-philosophical observer; Sartre as the French-continental subject.

Energy

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

The intellectual energies of mid-twentieth-century European philosophical exchange.

Information

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

The philosophical-critical analysis; the developmental seed of Murdoch's own constructive position.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Sartre: Romantic Rationalist

The book is sometimes treated as a juvenile work eclipsed by Murdoch's mature philosophy; recent rehabilitation (Conradi, Antonaccio, Broackes) has restored its standing as a serious philosophical engagement.