Philosophers have traditionally concentrated on the qualities that make human beings different from other species.
In Beast and Man Mary Midgley, one of our foremost intellectuals, stresses continuities. What makes people tick?
Largely, she asserts, the same things as animals. She tells us humans are rather more like other animals than we
previously allowed ourselves to believe, and reminds us just how primitive we are in comparison to the sophistication
of many animals. A veritable classic for our age, Beast and Man has helped change the way we think about ourselves
and the world in which we live.
Table of Contents
Part One:Conceptual Problems of an unusual species
1. Have We a Nature?
2. Animals and the problems of Evil
3. Instinct, Nature, and Purpose
Part Two:Art and Science in Psychology
4. Directions without a Director
5. On Taking Motives Seriously
6. Altruism and Egoism
Part Three: Signposts
7. Up and Down
8. Evolution and Practical Thinking
9. Facts and Values
Part Four:The Marks of Man
10. Speech and Other Excellences
11. On Being Animal as well as Rational
12. Why we need a Culture
