A01=Mary Midgley
Actual Human Motivation
Author_Mary Midgley
Category=NH
Category=QDX
Central Peculiarity
Comprehensive Viewpoint
Cosmological Constant
Darwin's Writings
Egoist Philosopher
Egoistic Lines
Enlightened Self-interest
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eq_history
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Fibonacci Spirals
Good Life
Gull Colony
Human Kind
Inclement Nature
Le Fanu
Living Body Act
Mythical Population
Piattelli Palmarini
Rhythmic Activity Pattern
Schopenhauer's Remark
Schopenhauer’s Remark
Selfish Memes
Selfish Organism
Sharper Conception
Social Insect Colonies
Upset People
Wilson's Sociobiology
Wilson’s Sociobiology
Product details
- ISBN 9781844652532
- Weight: 330g
- Dimensions: 138 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 20 Sep 2010
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Renowned philosopher Mary Midgley explores the nature of our moral constitution to challenge the view that reduces human motivation to self-interest. Midgley argues cogently and convincingly that simple, one-sided accounts of human motives, such as the 'selfish gene' tendency in recent neo-Darwinian thought, may be illuminating but are always unrealistic. Such neatness, she shows, cannot be imposed on human psychology. She returns to Darwin's original writings to show how the reductive individualism which is now presented as Darwinism does not derive from Darwin but from a wider, Hobbesian tradition in Enlightenment thinking. She reveals the selfish gene hypothesis as a cultural accretion that is just not seen in nature. Heroic independence is not a realistic aim for Homo sapiens. We are, as Darwin saw, earthly organisms, framed to interact constantly with one another and with the complex ecosystems of which we are a tiny part. For us, bonds are not just restraints but also lifelines.
Mary Midgely (1919-2018)was a moral philosopher and the author of many books, most recently The Myths We Live By.
