Overview
Genetic engineering. Bulding blocks of life. Selfish genes These phrases, after all, are all imaginative metaphors. We are encouraged to think that the language of science opposes myth, but does it? Mary Midgley argues in her powerful new book that far from being the opposite of science, myth is a central part of it. In her customary brilliant prose, she argues that myths are neither lies nor mere stories but a network of powerful symbols that suggest particular ways of interpreting the world. In The Myths We Live By she spells out how we go wrong about several of the most powerful, such as the myth of the Social Contract and points out how profoundly some of our strongest myths today are shaped by our favourite technologies, notably the microscope and the computer. There is also the myth of progress - now disguised as evolution - the myth of a body quite separate from the mind, and the myth of omnicompetent science. Drawing shrewdly on a wealth of examples such as the unhelpfulness of memes - the alleged genes of culture - as explanations of social change and the way in which current hopes for biotechnology are repeating the errors of the alchemists, she spells out what goes wrong when we try to apply the atomistic metaphors of science to the large-scale problems of our lives. She does not, however, blame science itself for this. Instead, she deftly shows how its name is unfairly blackened when we pressgang it into the wrong places. A tour de force of clear thinking on why we are more than the sum of our molecules, The Myths We LIve By is essential reading for anyone concerened about how we should understand the world today.
Full Product Details
Author: Mary Midgley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint: Routledge
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.453kg
ISBN: 9780415309066
ISBN 10: 0415309069
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 15 May 2003
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: Out of stock
Reviews
'The most cool, coherent and sane critic of contemporary superstition we have.' - The Sunday Times; 'Midgley's books over the past thirty years have made a signal contribution to ending 'the contest of faculties' and to furthering the central philosophical mission of making sense of life.' - Times Higher Educational Supplement; 'There is much to commend about Science and Poetry, both in the character of Midgley's argument and in the lucidity of her exposition.' - Times Literary Supplement, on Science and Poetry; 'Midgley writes perceptively - and beautifully - about many things... But, in the end, it is in the poetry of Midgley's prose, that makes the book worth reading.' - Nature; 'This book shows Midgley at her full power... there is no doubt that she is one of the sharpest and most incisive philosophical minds writing today.' - The Tablet
Author Information
Mary Midgley is a moral philosopher and the author of many books including Wickedness, Evolution as a Religion (both Routledge Classics), The Ethical Primate, Science as Salvation, Utopias, Dolphins and Computers, and Science and Poetry. All are published by Routledge.
