What is philosophy for? / by Mary Midgley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-2018.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

vi, 223 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

Summary:

Why should anybody take an interest in philosophy? Is it just another detailed study like metallurgy? Or is it similar to history, literature and even religion: a study meant to do some personal good and influence our lives? Mary Midgley addresses these provocative questions in her most up-to-date statement on the various forms of our current intellectual anxieties and confusions and how we might deal with them. In doing so, she provides a robust, yet not uncritical, defence of philosophy and the life of the mind.This defence is expertly placed in the context of contemporary debates about science, religion, and philosophy. It asks whether, in light of rampant scientific and technological developments, we still need philosophy to help us think about the big questions of meaning, knowledge, and value.

Contents:

Part 1. The Search for Signposts. Chapter 1. Directions. Chapter 2. Do Ideas Get Out Of Date?. Chapter 3. What is Research?. Chapter 4. Clashes of Method. Chapter 5. What is Matter?. Chapter 6. Quantum Queries. Chapter 7. What is Progress?. Chapter 8. Perspectives and Paradoxes: Rousseau And His Intellectual Explosives. Chapter 9. Mill And The Different Kinds Of Freedom. Chapter 10. Making Sense Of Toleration. PART 2. Tempting Visions of Science . Chapter 11. The Force of World-Pictures. Chapter 12. The Past Does Not Die. Chapter 13. Scientism; The New Sedative. PART 3. Mindlessness and Machine Worship. Chapter 14. The Power-Struggle. Chapter 15. Missing Persons. Chapter 16. Oracles PART 4. Singularities and the Cosmos. Chapter 17. What Kind of Singularity?. Chapter 18. Can Intelligence be Measured? . Chapter 19. What is Materialism? . Chapter 20. The Cult of Impersonality. Chapter 21. Matter and Reality. Chapter 22. The Mystique of Scientism. Chapter 23. The Strange World-Picture Conclusion: One World but Many Window.

ISBN:

135005108X

9781350051089

OCLC:

1018456844