The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf

by Thomas Nail

ISBN: 9781350526051

Published: 2025-05-15

Towards the end of her life, Virginia Woolf defined her “philosophy”-the “constant idea” that “makes her a writer.” She wrote that this idea had given her “the strongest pleasure known to [her].” She called these “exceptional moments,” or “moments of being.” Thomas Nail contends that Woolf is a philosopher of being. And these "moments of being" as forming a unique process philosophy of motion. In her description of these moments Woolf gives us access to a world in motion and process; where all of nature and matter flows, ripples, and quivers. In these moments the anthropocentric division between humans and nature dissolves into metastable patterns-without essences or vital forces. Matter becomes dynamic, and what originally appeared solid is perceived as woven, porous, and fluid. The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf begins by defining the basic idea of the moment of being, why it is important and how to understand it and its philosophical implications. It recounts a series of 14...