Science and Poetry.
Title:
Science and Poetry.
Author:
Midgley, Mary.
ISBN:
9780203187944
Personal Author:
Edition:
1st ed.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (233 pages)
Contents:
SCIENCE AND POETRY -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- PART I Visions of rationality -- 1 The sources of thought -- 2 Knowledge considered as weed-killer -- 3 Rationality and rainbows -- 4 The shape of disillusion -- 5 Atomistic visions: the quest for permanence -- 6 Memes and other unusual life-forms -- PART II Mind and body: the end of apartheid -- 7 Putting our selves together again -- 8 Living in the world -- 9 The strange persistence of fatalism -- 10 Chessboards and presidents of the immortals -- 11 Doing science on purpose -- 12 One world, but a big one -- 13 A plague on both their houses -- 14 Being scientific about our selves -- PART III In what kind of world? -- 15 Widening responsibilities -- 16 The problem of humbug -- 17 Individualism and the concept of Gaia -- 18 Gods and goddesses: the role of wonder -- 19 Why there is such a thing as society -- 20 Paradoxes of sociobiology and social Darwinism -- 21 Mythology, rhetoric and religion -- Notes -- Index.
Abstract:
Crude materialism, reduction of mind to body, extreme individualism. All products of a 17th century scientific inheritance which looks at the parts of our existence at the expense of the whole. Cutting through myths of scientific omnipotence, Mary Midgley explores how this inheritance has so powerfully shaped the way we are, and the problems it has brought with it. She argues that poetry and the arts can help reconcile these problems, and counteract generations of 'one-eyed specialists', unable and unwilling to look beyond their own scientific or literary sphere. Dawkins, Atkins, Bacon and Descartes all come under fire as Midgely sears through contemporary debate, from Gaia to memes, and organic food to greenhouse gases. After years of unquestioned imperialism, science is finally forced to take a step back and acknowledge the arts.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
Genre:
Electronic Access:
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