Evolution as a religion : strange hopes and stranger fears

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Title:

Author:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

ISBN:

9780415278324

9780415278331

Personal Author:

Midgley, Mary, 1919-

Edition:

Rev. ed. / with an new introduction by the author.

Publication Information:

London : Routledge, 2002.

Physical Description:

xi, 212 pages ; 20 cm

General Note:

Previous edition: London: Methuen, 1985.

Contents:

Evolutionary dramas -- Do science and religion compete? -- Demarcation disputes -- The irresistible escalator -- Choosing a world -- The problem of direction -- Scientist and superscientist -- Dazzling prospects -- Black holes: Jacques Monod and the isolation of 'science' -- Freedom and the Monte Carlo drama -- Scientific education and human transience -- Mixed antitheses -- Science, scepticism and awe -- The service of self and the service of Kali -- Who or what is selfish? -- Dreaming and waking -- The limits of individualism -- The vulnerable world and its claims on us.

Abstract:

This work exposes the illogical logic of poor doctrines that shelter themselves behind the prestige of science. Midgley examines how science comes to be used as a substitute for religion and points out how badly that role distorts it.

Subject Term:

Evolution -- Religious aspects.

Evolution -- Philosophy.

Religion and science.

Evolution -- Philosophy. (OCoLC)fst00917277

Evolution -- Religious aspects. (OCoLC)fst00917280

Copies:

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Summary

According to a profile in The Guardian, Mary Midgley is 'the foremost scourge of scientific pretensions in this country; someone whose wit is admired even by those who feel she sometimes oversteps the mark'. Considered one of Britain's finest philosophers, Midgley exposes the illogical logic of poor doctrines that shelter themselves behind the prestige of science. Always at home when taking on the high priests of evolutionary theory - Dawkins, Wilson and their acolytes - she has famously described evolution as 'the creation-myth of our age'. In Evolution as a Religion, she examines how science comes to be used as a substitute for religion and points out how badly that role distorts it. As ever, her argument is flawlessly insightful: a punchy, compelling, lively indictment of these misuses of science. Both the book and its author are true classics of our time.