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Mary Midgley

The Essential Mary Midgley

by David Midgley (Editor), James Lovelock (Foreword)

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Feared and admired in equal measure, Mary Midgley has carefully yet profoundly challenged many of the scientific and moral orthodoxies of the twentieth century. The Essential Mary Midgley collects for the first time the very best of this famous philosopher's work, described by the Financial Times as 'common sense philosophy of the highest order'.

This unrivalled introduction to a great philosopher and brilliant writer incorporates carefully selected excerpts from Mary Midgley's bestselling books, including Wickedness, Beast and Man, Science and Poetry, and The Myths We Live By. With a specially written foreword by James Lovelock, this classic text presents a superb and eminently readable insight into questions she has returned to time and again in her renowned sharp prose. This anthology discusses major topics, such as the roots of human nature, reason and imagination, the myths of science and the importance of holism in thinking about science and the environment.

ISBN-10

0415346428
ISBN-13

978-0415346429
Publication date

May 26, 2005
Language

English
Dimensions

5.43 x 0.96 x 8.5 inches
Print length

424 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

'She has, perhaps, the sharpest perception of any living thinker of the dangerous extremism that lurks behind so much contemporary scientistic discourse.' - Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times

'One of the sharpest critical pens in the West.' - Times Literary Supplement

'The value of Mary's thinking is that she questions the assumptions and investigates what she calls 'philosophical plumbing' and the role of different ideas in helping map our world...Having the whole of Mary's thinking summarised in one volume is enormously valuable, enabling the reader to access the essence of her approach.' – The Science and Medical Network Review

About the Author

Mary Midgely (1919-2018)was a moral philosopher and the author of many books, most recently The Myths We Live By.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge (May 26, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415346428
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415346429
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.43 x 0.96 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #522,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,305 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #2,345 in Philosophy of Ethics & Morality
- #5,548 in Women's Biographies

Customer Reviews:
18 ratings

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4.9 out of 5

18 global ratings

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ThisReviewer

Best critic of science I know

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2018

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Mary Midgley is simply the best critic of science I know. And given science's faustian bargain with corporate and crony capitalism, in which science has become our modern magic, science desperately needs good critics. Critics who actually understand what science is.

2 people found this helpful

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Raymond J. Salmond

Philosophy for real people

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 7, 2017

Midgley is a philosopher one can understand, she is a philosopher who has a heart, she is a philosopher who argues her case from basics all the way through, in plain English, she is a philospher who brings all the flights of fancy and fantasy that so many philosophers get lost in back to earth with a bump. Like Virginia Woolf, she steps right over the b*llsh*t from which cocooned males are busily building towers into the clouds

2 people found this helpful

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Ronald Hinchley

Good read and she is tough too

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 26, 2007

She reminds me that we need to think critically in morality too.

5 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Adrian Bailey

No-nonsence, feisty and humane

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 9, 2020

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A marvellous collection of writings that introduced me to Mary Midgely and led to a buying spree! I'm not an academic and had seen a few of her pieces in Philosophy Now but had never realised what a no-nonsense, feisty and humane philosopher she was. There are not many such about. As a plumber of the leaking pipes in the Borgsian-scaled matrices of so much from 'professional' British philosophers in the last century she will have given very many ordinary people (yes, they philosophise too!) the confidence to call out nonsense when they see it. Rather than fix the leaks, she tore out the pipes.

3 people found this helpful

phillip schneider

breath of fresh air

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 22, 2023

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This woman has common sense in spades.
Plain spoken and jargon free. She provides the tools for the sincere and sensitive seeker after wisdom to recentre themselves when ideological wars and intellectual snobbery and specialisation has dislocated them.

Timothy Burnhill

Excellent summary of Mary Midgley’s work.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 12, 2022

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Very well written and challenging.

William Whitson

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2016

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Essential in every sense of the word.