Wickedness / Edition 2

by Dr Mary Midgley, Mary Midgley

Overview

To look into the darkness of the human soul is a frightening venture. Here Mary Midgley does so, with her customary brilliance and clarity. 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. Out of this dark journey she returns with an offering to us: an understanding of human nature that enhances our very humanity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415253987
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/18/2001
Series:	Routledge Classics
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mary Midgley (1919-2018), a philosopher with a special interest in ethics, human nature and science, has a widespread international following for her work. Other publications include The Ethical Primate, Science as Salvation, Utopias, Dolphins and Computers and, most recently, Science and Poetry

Table of Contents

	Preface to the Routledge Classics Edition	vii
	Preface	xv
1	The Problem of Natural Evil	1
2	Intelligibility and Immoralism	17
3	The Elusiveness of Responsibility	49
4	Understanding Aggression	74
5	Fates, Causes and Free-will	95
6	Selves and Shadows	116
7	The Instigators	136
8	Death-wish	158
9	Evil in Evolution	179
	Notes	208
	Index	225

Editorial Reviews

' I have now read the book twice, not because it is difficult (on the contrary it reads with the ease and elegance of Bertrand Russell), but because it is so stimulating.' - Brian Masters, The Spectator

From the Publisher

I have now read the book twice, not because it is difficult (on the contrary it reads with the ease and elegance of Bertrand Russell), but because it is so stimulating.

Spectator

Mrs Midgley has set out to delineate not so much the nature as the sources of wickedness. Though she calls the book a philosophical essay, it is more a contribution to psychology. The book is clearly written, with a refreshing absence of technical jargon, and each chapter is followed by a useful summary of its principal arguments.

Listener

Mary Midgley may be the most frightening philosopher in the country: the one before whom it is least pleasant to appear a fool.

Guardian

Mary Midgely is a philosopher with what many have come to admire, and some to fear, as one of the sharpest critical pens in the West.

Steven Rose