The Myths We Live By, Mary Midgley
The Myths We Live By, Mary Midgley
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The Myths We Live By

Author: Mary Midgley

Narrator: Hillary Huber

Unabridged: 8 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Ascent Audio

Published: 10/17/2017


Synopsis

Myths, as Mary Midgley argues in this powerful audiobook, are everywhere. In political thought they sit at the heart of theories of human nature and the social contract; in economics in the pursuit of self interest; and in science the idea of human beings as machines, which originates in the seventeenth century, is a today a potent force. Far from being the opposite of science, however, Midgley argues that myth is a central part of it. Myths are neither lies nor mere stories but a network of powerful symbols for interpreting the world. Tackling a dazzling array of subjects such as philosophy, evolutionary psychology, animals, consciousness and the environment in her customary razor-sharp prose, The Myths We Live By reminds us of the powerful role of symbolism and the need to take our imaginative life seriously.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Joshua on December 04, 2013

In general, I am allergic to philosophy. It seems so abstracted from real life as to be meaningless, so caught up in minutiae as to lose track of the things we care about. But philosophical writing did play a role in my intellectual development. Reading Mary Mdigley’s “Science as Salvation” (along w......more

Goodreads review by Nancy on November 08, 2015

I didn't find the writing very accessible. And yes we've swung too far in the direction of reductionism- especially in medicine where the human body is broken down into a series of unrelated parts. But you can't blame science for bad science. And I think Midgley used bad science in some of her examp......more

Goodreads review by Steve on January 24, 2019

The first read of my Portland book haul, this interesting work talks about the cultural meanings we ascribe to our knowledge. Midgley is a very testy thinker who doesn't like facile sloganeering, so she takes the science boys to task. The final chapters of the book focus on animal rights and are per......more