Mary Midgley studied at Oxford with Iris Murdoch and Philippa Foot, then raised a family and published her first book only at fifty nine. She wrote about human nature, animals, evil and the environment, always in plain language. She was famous for her sharp critiques of scientism and of the selfish gene picture of humanity, and kept writing until she died at ninety nine.
Core ideas
Human beings are animals, and our nature shapes our morality
Science is precious but cannot answer every question about meaning and value
Philosophy should repair the hidden ideas that make our thinking go wrong
The tradition: Philosophical naturalist
Philosophical naturalism here means understanding humans as part of nature without reducing them to machines or genes. Midgley defended this middle path against both religious dualism and hard scientism.
