The myths we live by / Mary Midgley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Myth.

Symbolism.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (203 p.)

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Mary Midgley argues in her powerful new book that far from being the opposite of science, myth is a central part of it. In brilliant prose, she claims that myths are neither lies nor mere stories but a network of powerful symbols that suggest particular ways of interpreting the world.

Contents:

How myths work

Our place in the world

Progress, science and modernity

Thought has many forms

The aims of reduction

Dualistic dilemmas

Motives, materialism and megalomania

What is action

Tidying the inner scene : why memes?

The sleep of reason produces monsters

Getting rid of the ego

Cultural evolution?

Selecting the selectors

Is reason sex-linked?

The journey from freedom to desolation

Biotechnology and the yuk factor

The new alchemy

The supernatural engineer

Heaven and earth, an awkward history

Science looks both ways

Are you an animal?

Problems about parsimony

Denying animal consciousness

Beasts versus the biosphere?

Some practical dilemmas

Problems of living with otherness

Changing ideas of wildness

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-184) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786610047079

9781134392520

1134392524

9781134392537

1134392532

9781280047077

1280047070

9780203480922

0203480929

OCLC:

475943116