Science and poetry / Mary Midgley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Science--Methodology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (233 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Routledge, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Crude materialism, reduction of mind to body, extreme individualism. All products of a 17th century scientific inheritance which looks at the parts of our existence at the expense of the whole.Cutting through myths of scientific omnipotence, Mary Midgley explores how this inheritance has so powerfully shaped the way we are, and the problems it has brought with it. She argues that poetry and the arts can help reconcile these problems, and counteract generations of 'one-eyed specialists', unable and unwilling to look beyond their own scientific or literary sphere.Dawkins, Atkins, Bacon a

Contents:

SCIENCE AND POETRY; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; PART I Visions of rationality; 1 The sources of thought; 2 Knowledge considered as weed-killer; 3 Rationality and rainbows; 4 The shape of disillusion; 5 Atomistic visions: the quest for permanence; 6 Memes and other unusual life-forms; PART II Mind and body: the end of apartheid; 7 Putting our selves together again; 8 Living in the world; 9 The strange persistence of fatalism; 10 Chessboards and presidents of the immortals; 11 Doing science on purpose; 12 One world, but a big one

13 A plague on both their houses14 Being scientific about our selves; PART III In what kind of world?; 15 Widening responsibilities; 16 The problem of humbug; 17 Individualism and the concept of Gaia; 18 Gods and goddesses: the role of wonder; 19 Why there is such a thing as society; 20 Paradoxes of sociobiology and social Darwinism; 21 Mythology, rhetoric and religion; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-134-55954-2

1-280-32649-2

9786610326495

0-203-24438-9

0-203-18794-6

9780203187944

OCLC:

559783743