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Then suddenly I observe a hovering kestrel. In a moment everything is altered. … There is nothing now but kestrel.

Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good, 1970

Philosophy

The story behind the card

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) was an Irish-born British novelist and philosopher. In The Sovereignty of Good, a short book of three essays, she describes looking out of a window while brooding over anxiety and hurt pride, when a kestrel, a small falcon that can hang still in the air, catches her eye. Murdoch calls this movement away from self-absorption 'unselfing'. She argues that we become better less through single acts of will than through patient, loving attention to the world and to other people.

Türkçe oku
Birden havada asılı duran bir kerkenez görüyorum. Bir anda her şey değişiyor. … Artık yalnızca kerkenez var.
Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good, 1970

Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), İrlanda doğumlu İngiliz romancı ve filozoftu. Üç denemeden oluşan kısa kitabı The Sovereignty of Good'da (İyinin Egemenliği), kaygıya ve kırılmış gururuna gömülmüş hâlde pencereden bakarken gözüne takılan bir kerkenezi anlatır. Kerkenez, havada kanat çırparak olduğu yerde durabilen küçük bir doğandır. Murdoch, insanın kendi derdinden bu şekilde sıyrılmasına “unselfing”, yani kendinden çıkma der. Ona göre insan, tek tek irade gösterilerinden çok, dünyaya ve başkalarına sabırla ve sevgiyle dikkat ederek daha iyi biri olur.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Sovereignty of Good
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