Mary Midgley, Persons and The Moral Community
Introduction In this guest post Elizabeth Mackintosh explores Mary Midgley’s integrated and relational notion of the self and how this drives her vision and conception of a ‘mixed’ moral community. A Midgleyean mixed moral community is one where we appreciate the many types of relationships and communities we are in. Midgley not only connects human […]
Mary Midgley and our Need For (Good) Philosophy, Ian James Kidd (10/11/18)
At the Midgley Archive Launch we heard a series of wonderful talks from distinguished guests. Here, Dr Ian James Kidd takes inspiration from the archive and reflects on the necessity of philosophy. Philosophy is a necessity, not a luxury Mary Midgley thought philosophy was a necessity, not a luxury – something we need to […]
Carrying on the Midgley legacy: inspiration from the archive, Jane Heal (10/11/2018)
At the Midgley Archive Launch we heard a series of wonderful talks from distinguished guests. Here, Professor Jane Heal takes inspiration from the archive and reflects on the virtues of breadth of interest and courage. I would like to start by saying what am sure we all feel, which is how very sad we […]
Geoff and Mary Midgley – Two Kinds of Philosopher. David Midgley (10/11/2018)
At the Midgley Archive Launch we heard a series of wonderful short talks from distinguished guests. We’ll be sharing them here over the next week. The first is David Midgley’s discussion of his philosopher parents. I need to preface this paper with a double apology – in the first place I must confess to being […]
Mary Beatrice Midgley (1919-2018)
This piece was originally published at The Institute of Art and Ideas Mary Beatrice Midgley, collaborator and inspiration for the Women In Parenthesis project has died. Mary was a giant among philosophers, though she only published the first of her 19 books at the age of 59, a feat which is unfathomable today in more than one […]
‘It’s still pretty hard for women to get through’
The narrowness of Hare and Ayer: ‘We got quite indignant about that!’
‘Four of us don’t make a Golden Age’
‘He did marry her, and I don’t think she did any philosophy after’
https://vimeo.com/222572760
‘Rings and Books’ by Mary Midgley
Midgley wrote this essay in the mid-1950s for BBC radio. In her memoir The Owl of Minerva, she recalls:
“I wrote it because I had suddenly been struck by the fact that nearly all the famous philosophers whose lives we know about were lifelong bachelors…
Then and Now
by Mary Midgley Mary Midgley Considers How What Is Called Philosophy Has Changed Since She And Her Friends First Plunged Into It Changes In World-Pictures. When we four people started studying Philosophy at Oxford in the early 1940s, quite a lot of the topics that we might have expected to discuss – most importantly, Human […]
Interview with Mary Midgley
Clare, Luna, and I went along to interview Mary Midgley today at her home in Newcastle. We spent an incredible 90 minutes learning about life in Oxford during the 1930s and 40s, and hearing her thoughts on the contemporary lot of women in academia. I was especially struck by her comment that one of the […]
Interview with Mary Midgley
Mary Midgley has generously offered us her time on Monday, so we’re off to interview her about the Golden Age of female philosophy! We’ve got our own list of questions, but if there’s anything you think we should ask her do leave a comment or drop us a note. We’re taking a fanstastic filmmaker with us […]