ABSTRACT
Both a self-described feminist and an anti-Women’s Libber, Murdoch had a complex relationship with the politics of feminism. She did not believe that women had separate stories or issues, and that these were effectively silos that made women second-class citizens. Rather, Murdoch considers that stories are human stories, and her thinking about gender is arguably non-binary, believing there is masculinity and femininity in each of us. Murdoch is interested in particular human beings and individuals in their particular situations. This, I suggest, aligns her thinking far more with current feminism in its emphasis on intersectionality and phenomenological embodiment, than with second-wave feminism’s focus on specific women’s rights and sexual discrimination. Furthermore, Murdoch’s thinking about attention and cultivating ‘a just and loving gaze’ upon another person invites consideration as a feminist ethics of care. This chapter argues that Murdoch’s philosophy, while not traditionally considered feminist, in fact offers multiple opportunities for engagement with contemporary feminist concerns.
