The Sovereignty of Good
In the shop in the basement of the Photographer’s Gallery in London, on the counter in front of the cash registers was a book by Tim Carpenter. I don’t know his name. Lenscratch says "Tim Carpenter is a photographer, writer, and educator who works in Brooklyn and central Illinois.
The title of the book on the counter was made to grab attention. It was entitled To Photograph Is To Learn How To Die.
I looked at the cover and moved on to the other books. Then I stopped and moved back and opened the and found myself on a page with quotations from Iris Murdoch in her book The Sovereignty of Good
Later, I asked ChatGPT to summarise The Sovereignty of Good, and this is the summary:
Iris Murdoch’s The Sovereignty of Good (1970) is a short but influential philosophical work that argues for the importance of goodness as the central concept in moral life, standing against the dominant moral theories of her time (particularly existentialism and utilitarianism). It is based on three essays: The Idea of Perfection, On “God” and “Good”, and The Sovereignty of Good Over Other Concepts.
Key points:
Critique of Modern Moral Philosophy Murdoch criticises existentialist and behaviourist accounts of morality, which emphasise freedom of choice, willpower, or action, while neglecting the inner life of attention, imagination, and moral perception. She argues that morality cannot be reduced to decisions or rules.
The Inner Life and Attention For Murdoch, what matters most in ethics is not a single act of choice but the quality of one’s sustained moral attention. She takes inspiration from Simone Weil’s idea of attention as a just and loving gaze upon reality. To act well, one must first see the world and other people truthfully, without the distortions of ego and self-centred fantasy.
The Good Beyond the Self Murdoch contends that the moral life involves moving away from self-absorption and toward a truthful recognition of reality. The concept of “Good” provides a transcendent point outside ourselves that guides this effort, even though Good is not a personal God but an impersonal ideal.
Good as Sovereign Goodness has a unique status: it is not just one value among others but the orientation point for moral life. Love, beauty, and truth are subordinate to or illuminated by Good. Murdoch insists that Good must be conceived as sovereign over other concepts, grounding both moral striving and human flourishing.
Moral Progress as Vision, Not Heroic Will Progress in morality is less about dramatic choices and more about the slow, often unnoticed work of refining perception—learning to see others more justly, clearly, and compassionately. Murdoch gives the example of a mother who gradually learns to see her daughter-in-law in a less prejudiced way; this change of vision is a genuine moral achievement.
In short: Murdoch redefines morality as a lifelong discipline of attention and vision, grounded in the transcendent reality of Good. Rather than acts of will or adherence to rules, the essence of ethics lies in learning to see truthfully and lovingly.