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
Product Description
Feared and admired in equal measure, Mary Midgely 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 "commonsense philosophy of the highest order."
This anthology includes carefully chosen selections from her best-selling books, including Wickedness, Beast and Man, Science and Poetry and The Myths We Live By. It provides a superb and eminently accessible insight into questions she has returned to again and again in her renowned sharp prose, from the roots of human nature, reason and imagination to the myths of science and the importance of holism in thinking about science and the environment.
It offers an unrivalled introduction to a great philosopher and a brilliant writer, and also includes a specially written foreword by James Lovelock.
