My aim today is to capture and contrast a philosophic and a novelistic image that Murdoch provides for regeneration. The arrangement at the moment requires cutting it short, so I am only touching upon the intricate making of pictures, play with master images, and different uses of the same image in philosophy and in a novel that is a distinguishing characteristic in Murdoch’s artistic and philosophic vision. The occurrence of the mouse constitutes a kind of floating prologue – a pre-understanding – for this paper’s continuation, that we could all have in mind and which I shall return to. But there is a complex set of issues about the types of frames that surround reflections on the relationship between Murdoch’s philosophy and her fiction. Before discussing what is distinctive about Murdoch’s use of images – both and respectively as a philosopher and novelist – I would like to direct attention to what people talk about when they talk about the issue of literature and philosophy in Murdoch’s authorship. I am, somewhat cautiously, interested in presenting a rudimentary overview of what kinds of combinations and linkages that are focused, and if there are differences between theoretic viewpoints and practicality. The idea that I would like to test in this paper, a separation of theory and practise, is done for purposes of clarification and because there is a general scepticism from my viewpoint regarding usage of source material.

A separation between theory and practise will also include reflections on what I have suggested in this paper’s title – the generality of philosophy and the particularity of literature.