Mary Midgley

Mary Midgley, née Scrutton, (b. 13 September 1919) is a British moral philosopher. She was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and is best known for her popular works on religion, science and ethics. She strongly opposes reductionist and scientistic philosophies and is especially concerned with attempts, as she sees it, to make science function as a substitute for the humanities, a role for which she claims it is wholy inadequate. Midgley has famously sparred with Richard Dawkins over selfish genes and memes and has also written in favour of a moral interpretation of the Gaia theory.

Biography

Midgely was born in London to Lesley and Canon Tom Scrutton, the chaplain at Kings College, Cambridge. She was educated at Downe House School (originally based in the former home of Charles Darwin) and Somerville College, Oxford where she was a scholar. She married Dr Geoffrey Midgley in 1950 and they have three sons.

Related Topics:
Canon - Kings College, Cambridge - Downe House School - Charles Darwin - Somerville College, Oxford - 1950

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She wrote her first book, Beast and Man, at the age of 56. "I wrote no books until I was a good 50, and I'm jolly glad because I didn't know what I thought before then". 1 Since then she has written a series of books and other publications, which have led to her being described as "fiercely combative", "the most frightening philosopher in the country" and "the foremost scourge of scientific pretension in this country: someone whose wit is admired even by those who feel she sometimes oversteps the mark." 1

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