Epiphanies

Sophie-Grace Chappell's exuberantly insightful essay makes a deeply persuasive case for re-setting the terms of moral philosophy. Chappell is interested in our ability to be interrupted. Epiphany, by definition, can't be normalized; but we can work at sustaining and reinforcing a culture that better understands that we are always becoming different subjects. The task is to allow the epiphany to form and educate as well as shock, so that our sense of the unseen dimensions beyond our localized perspective gradually alters how we see our world. * Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge *
Sophie-Grace Chappell has done us all a service. Modern philosophy treats Epiphanies as peripheral at best. But Epiphanies help to shape and dictate people's ethical outlook. They surely need to be discussed in academic philosophy more than they are. We cannot leave everything to the poets and the playwrights. Epiphanies is not a minor corrective but a glorious, spirited, tub-thumping humdinger of a book. It is fabulous. * Simon Kirchin, Professor of Philosophy, University of Leeds *
Chappell's engaging [book argues] against over-simplifying moral theories, takes the phenomenology of experience seriously, rejects the procrustean tendency of much moral philosophy to shoehorn the phenomena into a preconceived theoretical framework, and champions a broadly perceptual account of moral realism [rather like] Iris Murdoch's. After traversing the arid desert of much published philosophy, coming across [Epiphanies] is like finding a refreshing oasis. The ambition of the book... is monumental on a Kantian scale. To make a decent fist at covering such a broad issue is very difficult, and it's to Chappell's great credit that she achieves so much. * David McNaughton, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University *
Epiphanies: An Ethics of Experience is so well-written and so utterly thought-provoking how wonderful it is to find philosophical reflections on some of my favourite authors and artists (George Eliot, Nan Sheperd, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Tolstoy, CS Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Hornby) all collected in one and the same volume. Philosophy books rarely give me pangs of recognition or genuine 'aha' experiences. But [Epiphanies] did, in abundance. It is the best academic book I have read in many, many years. * Hans Maes, Professor of Philosophy, KU Leuven *
What light it gives and what hope. How much one needs this light from philosophy and how rarely one finds it. Philosophers are embarrassed by experience. Moral philosophers in particular. And [Chappell takes] it by the horns and whispers in its ears and tames it for us for a little while [reading Epiphanies] has been an inspiring experience. * Evgenia Mylonaki, Professor of Philosophy, University of Patras *
Chappell’s magisterial book performs an extremely valuable service in reminding us of how eye-opening, catalytic, and transformative epiphanic experiences can be, and how central a place that fact deserves to hold in moral philosophy. * Matthieu Queloz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bern *
Epiphanies deserves a great deal of philosophical attention. * Tom Yates, Journal of Moral Philosophy *