The moral philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch said that philosophy "is both the guide and mirror of the age". In this wide-ranging book Mark Hopwood explores the moral significance of Iris Murdoch's philosophy, paying particular to her highly creative use of language and expression. Hopwood argues that the main reason Murdoch's philosophy remained so long initially at the margins of philosophy is that she offered a radically different conception of what it means to do moral philosophy. Rather than seeking to establish a single systematic moral framework in the manner of utilitarian or Kantian theories, she argued that moral philosophers ought to be concerned with describing the varied range of moral concepts that we actually use in everyday life and elaborating new concepts and modes of understanding to meet our most pressing social needs.

Examining the role of vision, imagination, love, goodness and transcendence in Murdoch's work The Moral Philosophy of Iris Murdoch presents a compelling and original argument that she is one of the major moral philosophers of the twentieth century.