Mary Midgley

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 and Descartes all come under fire as Midgley sears through contemporary debate from Gaia to memes and organic food to greenhouse gases. After years of unquestioned imperialism, science is finally forced to take a step back and acknowledge the arts.

In The Ethical Primate, renowned philosopher Mary Midgley tackles important questions about human freedom and morality. Scientists and philosophers have found it difficult to understand how each human being can be both a living part of the natural world and, at the same time, a genuinely free agent. Midgley explores their responses to this seeming paradox and argues that our evolutionary origin, properly understood, explains why human freedom and morality have come about.

"... a graceful, refreshing and enlightening book, applied philosophy that is relevant, timely and metaphysical in the best sense." The New York Times Book Review John Banville Midgley is one of the most acute and penetrating voices in current moral philosophy. Her great gift is clarity, both of thought and, especially, of expression. . To follow her reasoning . is like watching a ballet dancer walking in the street: there is a litheness, a gracefulness, an ease of articulation, which attests to years of learning lightly worn.

To look into the darkness of the human soul is a frightening venture. Here Mary Midgley does so, with her customary brilliance and clarity. In Wickedness she sets out to delineate not so much the nature of wickedness as its actual sources. Midgley's analysis proves that the capacity for real wickedness is an inevitable part of human nature. This is not however a blanket acceptance of evil. She provides us with a framework that accepts its existence yet offers humankind the possibility of rejecting this part of our nature. Out of this dark journey she returns with an offering to us: an understanding of human nature that enhances our very humanity. To read Wickedness is to understand Mary Midgley's reputation as one of the world's greatest moral philosophers.

¿Por qué las grandes preguntas de la filosofía nos suelen parecer tan ajenas a la vida cotidiana? Mary Midgley nos demuestra que no tiene por qué ser así. Su popularidad como una de las filósofas fundamentales de nuestro tiempo se basa en su estilo rotundo, incisivo y directo y en su capacidad para hablarnos de las cosas que nos atañen de verdad.

¿Cuántas veces hemos oído la frase " Yo no juzgo " ? Expresa una de las ideas más populares de nuestro tiempo: que formular juicios sobre los demás es algo esencialmente malo. En este texto clásico, la filosofa moral Mary Midgley arroja luz sobre los distintos enfoques a esta compleja cuestion y nos interpela sobre cuestiones como el valor de la libertad, que subyacen a nuestro escepticismo. Muestra que la respuesta que demos a este interrogante sobre los juicios morales inevitablemente tiene consecuencias sobre nuestra actitud no solo respecto al derecho y sus instituciones, sino tambien respecto a los acontecimientos de nuestra vida cotidiana, y sugiere que la renuencia a formular juicios morales puede estar haciendonos la vida mas dificil, en vez de facilitarnosla.