The Philosophy Book

292

See also: Plato 50–55 ■ Aristotle 56–63 ■ Ludwig Wittgenstein 246–51

I

n her book Beast and Man,

published in 1978, the British

philosopher Mary Midgley

assesses the impact the natural

sciences have on our understanding

of human nature. It is often claimed

that the findings of the sciences,

particularly those of palaeontology

and evolutionary biology, undermine

our views of what it is to be human.

Midgley wants to address these

fears, and she does so by stressing

both the things that set us apart

from other animals and the things

that we share with the rest of

the animal kingdom.

One of the questions that she

tackles is that of the relationship

between nature and culture in

human life. Her concern is to

address the fact that many people

see nature and culture as somehow

opposed, as if culture is something

non-natural that is added onto

our animal natures.

Midgley disagrees with the

idea that culture is something of

a wholly different order to nature.

Instead, she wants to argue that

culture is a natural phenomenon.

In other words, we have evolved to

be the kinds of creatures who have

cultures. It could be said that we

spin culture as naturally as spiders

spin webs. If this is so, then we

can no more do without culture

than a spider can do without its

web: our need for culture is both

innate and natural. In this way,

Midgley hopes both to account

for human uniqueness, and also

to put us in the larger context of

our evolutionary past. ■

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Philosophy of science

APPROACH

Analytic philosophy

BEFORE

4th century BCE Aristotle

defines human beings as

“political animals”, suggesting

that not only are we natural

beings, but that the creation of

culture is a part of our nature.

1st century BCE Roman poet

Titus Lucretius Carus writes

On the Nature of the Universe,

exploring the natural roots of

human culture.

1859 Naturalist Charles

Darwin publishes On the

Origin of Species, arguing that

all life has evolved through a

process of natural selection.

AFTER

1980s onward Richard

Dawkins and Mary Midgley

debate the implications of

Darwinism for our view of

human nature.

HOW WOULD WE

MANAGE WITHOUT

A CULTURE?

MARY MIDGLEY (1919–)

We mistakenly cut

ourselves off from other

animals, trying not

to believe we have

an animal nature.

Mary Midgley