Date: Sun, 30 Nov 1997 13:30:58 -0600 (CST)
From: NIIIIIIICHOLAS MATZKE <NJM6610-AT-exodus.valpo.edu>
Subject: Re: PKF: Bunge and Materialism


Vaguely in response to John Dale and Robert Basso's posts, and Basso's posting
of the NYT (sorry, New York Times!) articles, and just the generally
degenerating discussion that inevitably occurs on just about any distribution
list when not limited to very very specific issues...

	I think Basso (and other doubters of evolution/science/rationality/
logic/evidence and the rest) would do well to read a slim book by the
entirely underappreciated moral philosopher Mary Midgely.  She has written a
number of incredibly reasonable books on the relationships between science,
social science, evolution, society, feminism, rationalism, reason, emotion,
logic, perspectivism, objectivity, subjectivity, etc -- all concepts thoroughly
twisted by the 20th century's confused philosophical bickering (PFK would be an
excellent example of a confused philosophical bickerer -- he does say some
useful things, but like most thinkers he stretches his ideas past the point
where they make sense.  She is easy to read, funny, and doesn't pull punches.  

	Anyhow, the book I have in mind is _Evolution as Religion_, published 
1985 (I think).  Her (1992?) book _Science as Salvation_ is also good reading
for those anti-science types.  But beware -- neither Midgley nor I is any kind
of science-hater...what she does is try and *relate* scientific ways of looking
at the world with other perspectives.  She is, in fact, right in smack in the
middle of the grand Enlightenment rationalist tradition...but, like other great
Enlightenment thinkers (Darwin comes to mind) does NOT toss out everything
currently disparaged by the Official Defenders of Science and Reason.

	I should add that you pro-Dennett/Dawkins types out
there should start with Midgley's 1995 _The Ethical Primate_, which tries to
integrate an evolutionary perspective on how humans work with the more
postmodern (my word, not hers) perspectives.  And she manages to do it without
declaring war on anyone...an acheivement hardly any other writer acheives. 
This is the book that brought me from being a near atheist-Dawkins clone to a
more integrated, less reductionist position that I am now.

	OK, that's my two bits.  If anyone has read Midgely, I'd be interested
in hearing from them.  I've written several papers over my past few
undergraduate years on her books, and am just beginning a web page to group
links to what little information on her exists on the internet.  She's
brilliant, but seems to be almost ignored (except by Dawkins, who she's had a
15 year running feud with in Britain) by the rest of the world.  For example,
there is no discussion group that I can find on her works...even though she
makes sense, unlike much of, say, your average 'postmodern' thinker who gets
multiple webpages, discussion group lists, etc.

Thanks for reading,
Nick Matzke
Overcommitted Valparaiso University Undergrad
  
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