The ethical primate : humans, freedom, and morality / Mary Midgley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Free will and determinism.

Human beings.

Human evolution--Moral and ethical aspects.

Human evolution.

Ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (204 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, 1996.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In The Ethical Primate, Mary Midgley, 'one of the sharpest critical pens in the West' according to the Times Literary Supplement, addresses the fundamental question of human freedom. Scientists and philosophers have found it difficult to understand how each human-being can be a living part of the natural world and still be free. Midgley explores their responses to this seeming paradox and argues that our evolutionary origin explains both why and how human freedom and morality have come about.

Contents:

Book Cover; Title; Contents; Acknowledgements; INNER DIVISIONS; MISGUIDED DEBATES; GUIDING VISIONS; HOPES OF SIMPLICITY; CRUSADES, LEGITIMATE AND OTHERWISE; CONVERGENT EXPLANATIONS AND THEIR USES; TROUBLES OF THE LINEAR PATTERN; FATALISM AND PREDICTABILITY; AGENCY AND ETHICS; MODERN MYTHS; THE STRENGTH OF INDIVIDUALISM; THE RETREAT FROM THE NATURAL WORLD; HOW FAR DOES SOCIABILITY TAKE US?; THE USES OF SYMPATHY; ON BEING TERRESTRIAL; WHAT KIND OF BEINGS ARE FREE?; MINDS RESIST STREAMLINING; Notes; Index

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Routledge, 1994.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-191) and index.

ISBN:

1-134-82694-X

1-280-33268-9

0-203-02984-4

1-134-82695-8

0-203-28750-9

9780203029848

OCLC:

560393098