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Mary Midgley

Born

in London, The United Kingdom

September 12, 1919

Died

October 10, 2018

Genre

Philosophy, Science

Influences

Plato, Aristotle, G. E. Moore, James Lovelock ...more

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Mary Beatrice Midgley (née Scrutton; 13 September 1919 – 10 October 2018[1]) was a British philosopher. She was a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Newcastle University and was known for her work on science, ethics and animal rights. She wrote her first book, Beast And Man (1978), when she was in her fifties. She has since written over 15 other books, including Animals and Why They Matter (1983), Wickedness (1984), The Ethical Primate (1994), Evolution as a Religion (1985), and Science as Salvation (1992). She has been awarded honorary doctorates by Durham and Newcastle universities. Her autobiography, The Owl of Minerva, was published in 2005.

Midgley strongly opposed reductionism and scientism, and any attempts to make science a substitute ...more

31 posts
Mary Midgley's Blog

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The Science Delusion by Rupert Sheldrake - review

We must find a new way of understanding human beings

The unlucky fact that our current form of mechanistic materialism rests on muddled, outdated notions of matter isn't often mentioned today. It's a mess that can be ignored for everyday scientific purposes, but for our wider thinking it is getting very destructive. We can't approach important mind-body topics such as consciousness or the origins o

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Mary Midgley’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 1,814 ratings · 262 reviews · 55 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Myths We Live By 3.75 avg rating — 397 ratings — published 2003 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Beast and Man 4.05 avg rating — 188 ratings — published 1978 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What Is Philosophy for? 3.81 avg rating — 161 ratings — published 2018 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Evolution as a Religion 3.81 avg rating — 150 ratings — published 1985 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wickedness 3.86 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 1984 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Science and Poetry 4.14 avg rating — 127 ratings — published 2000 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Animals and Why They Matter 3.87 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 1983 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Are You an Illusion? 3.84 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 2014 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Science as Salvation: A Modern Myth and its Meaning 4.06 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 1992 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene 3.77 avg rating — 65 ratings — published 2010 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Mary Midgley…

Series by Mary Midgley

Heretics (2 books)
by

Mary Midgley

3.77 avg rating — 70 ratings

Quotes by Mary Midgley (?)

“The symbolism of meat-eating is never neutral. To himself, the meat-eater seems to be eating life. To the vegetarian, he seems to be eating death. There is a kind of gestalt-shift between the two positions which makes it hard to change, and hard to raise questions on the matter at all without becoming embattled.”
― Mary Midgley, Animals and Why They Matter

tags: conflict, ethics, philosophy, vegetarian, vegetarianism

39 likes

“The trouble with human beings is not really that they love themselves too much; they ought to love themselves more. The trouble is simply that they don’t love others enough.

"The End of Anthropocentrism?”
― Mary Midgley

24 likes

“Hubris calls for nemesis, and in one form or another it's going to get it, not as a punishment from outside but as the completion of a pattern already started.”
― Mary Midgley, The Myths We Live By

tags: hubris, pride

20 likes

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Mary Midgley’s Followers (170)

Mary Midgley

31 postsMary Midgley's Blog

The Science Delusion by Rupert Sheldrake - review

Combine EditionsMary Midgley’s books

Series by Mary Midgley

31 posts
Mary Midgley's Blog

Combine Editions
Mary Midgley’s books