1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910824453703321

Autore

Midgley Mary <1919-, >

Titolo

The ethical primate : humans, freedom, and morality / / Mary Midgley

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Routledge, , 1996

ISBN

1-134-82694-X

1-280-33268-9

0-203-02984-4

1-134-82695-8

0-203-28750-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (204 p.)

Disciplina

170/.42

Soggetti

Free will and determinism

Human beings

Human evolution - Moral and ethical aspects

Ethics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Originally published: New York : Routledge, 1994.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-191) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Book Cover; Title; Contents; Acknowledgements; INNER DIVISIONS; MISGUIDED DEBATES; GUIDING VISIONS; HOPES OF SIMPLICITY; CRUSADES, LEGITIMATE AND OTHERWISE; CONVERGENT EXPLANATIONS AND THEIR USES; TROUBLES OF THE LINEAR PATTERN; FATALISM AND PREDICTABILITY; AGENCY AND ETHICS; MODERN MYTHS; THE STRENGTH OF INDIVIDUALISM; THE RETREAT FROM THE NATURAL WORLD; HOW FAR DOES SOCIABILITY TAKE US?; THE USES OF SYMPATHY; ON BEING TERRESTRIAL; WHAT KIND OF BEINGS ARE FREE?; MINDS RESIST STREAMLINING; Notes; Index

Sommario/riassunto

In The Ethical Primate, Mary Midgley, 'one of the sharpest critical pens in the West' according to the Times Literary Supplement, addresses the fundamental question of human freedom. Scientists and philosophers have found it difficult to understand how each human-being can be a living part of the natural world and still be free. Midgley explores their responses to this seeming paradox and argues that our evolutionary origin explains both why and how human freedom and morality have



come about.