On the cusp of the Second World War, four women went to Oxford to begin their studies: a fiercely brilliant Catholic convert; a daughter of privilege longing to escape her stifling upbringing; an ardent Communist and aspiring novelist with a list of would-be lovers as long as her arm; and a quiet, messy lover of newts and mice who would become a great public intellectual of our time. During their studies, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch became lifelong friends. At the time, only a handful of women had ever made lives in philosophy. But when Oxford's men were drafted in the war, everything changed.

Benjamin Lipscomb, professor of philosophy at Houghton College, will present a lecture based on his recent book, The Women Are Up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics. The book presents the first sustained engagement with these women's contributions: with the critique and the alternative they framed. Drawing on a cluster of recently opened archives and extensive correspondence and interviews with those who knew them best, he traces the lives and ideas of four friends who gave us a better way to think about ethics, and ourselves. A response will follow from Dhananjay Jagannathan (Columbia).