The myths we live by / Mary Midgley ; with a new foreword by the author.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

Series:

Routledge classics.

Routledge classics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Myth--Social aspects--History.

Myth.

Civilization, Modern--Philosophy.

Civilization, Modern.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With a new Introduction by the author'An elegant and sane little book. - The New StatesmanMyths, as Mary Midgley argues in this powerful book, are everywhere. In political thought they sit at the heart of theories of human nature and the social contract; in economics in the pursuit of self interest; and in science the idea of human beings as machines, which originates in the seventeenth century, is a today a potent force. Far from being the opposite of science, however, Midgley argues that myth is a central part of it. Myths are neither lies nor mere stories bu

Contents:

Cover; Mary Midgley The Myths We Live By; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; Foreword To The Routledge Classics Edition; 1. How myths work; 2. Our place in the world; 3. Progress, science and modernity; 4. Thought has many forms; 5. The aims of reduction; 6. Dualistic dilemmas; 7. Motives, materialism and megalomania; 8. What action is; 9. Tidying the inner scene: why memes?; 10. The sleep of reason produces monsters; 11. Getting rid of the ego; 12. Cultural evolution?; 13. Selecting the selectors; 14. Is reason sex-linked?; 15. The journey from freedom to desolation

16. Biotechnology and the yuk factor17. The new alchemy; 18. The supernatural engineer; 19. Heaven and earth, an awkward history; 20. Science looks both ways; 21. Are you an animal?; 22. Problems about parsimony; 23. Denying animal consciousness; 24. Beasts versus the biosphere?; 25. Some practical dilemmas; 26. Problems of living with otherness; 27. Changing ideas of wildness; Notes; Index

Notes:

Originally published: 2004. With new foreword.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-136-80752-7

1-283-10375-3

9786613103758

1-136-80753-5

0-203-82832-1

9780203828328

OCLC:

727061395