The Earth Is Our Home - Imprint Academic

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This book demonstrates that Mary Midgley's philosophy of evolution points the way towards considering the earth as our only true home, since we are products of this planet and its evolving and complex life along with every other organism. From the knowledge of ourselves as knowing animals with a biological as well as a cultural history, Midgley proposes the elaboration of an evolutionary epistemology that situates us firmly on the earth together with other creatures, while at the same time helping us to build knowledge of the world from the complexity of the human experience. I like to call this approach by a known theological analogy, a view "from below," that is, from the underside of the world, from the realms of nature and history. Such an approach does not begin by assuming conceptions of design or order in nature, a view that we term “from above,” although it does not rule out the possibility of teleological or metaphysical constructions of reality in the long run. This “down-to-earth” approach I consider essential for any philosophy or theology that wants to take evolutionary theory seriously while committed to a proper and non-dismissive assessment of religious views.
Credit: John F. Haught

"This book is a major contribution to the contemporary discussion of religious faith and biological evolution. Its importance consists in part of its subject matter, Mary Midgley's illuminating ideas on the relationship of Darwin’s science to religion, morality, the nature of life, and human intelligence. But Rivera’s work is no less important for the clarity and profundity with which he presents and interprets Midgley’s work. I am most happy to recommend this readable work to students, teachers and others who are looking for a forceful way of responding to the incoherence of contemporary evolutionary materialism."

Credit: William Grassie

"Mary Midgley is the best antidote to the evolution wars and Nelson Rivera's book is the best guide to the work of Mary Midgley. Thoroughly researched, well written, and highly recommended."

Credit: Mark Wallace

"The Earth is Our Home is a highly readable and provocative advance in the study of religion and science. Nelson provides a study of the evolutionary philosophy of Mary Midgley and its relevance to the task of theological method. What Midgley offers Rivera is a penetrating understanding of why science is such an important dialogue partner for theology. Theology can learn from Midgley's appropriation and critique of Darwin, her dismissal of nature as a machine devoid of mystery, her
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argument for the inherently ethical character of scientific inquiry, and her biocentric polemic against human-centered thinking, in theology and elsewhere. Both nuanced about current debates in evolutionary biology and grounded in a generous theological sensibility, The Earth is Our Home is crucial reading for anyone interested in tracking new developments in the religion-science debate today."

Source: Network Review

"Mary Midgley's critique and reconstruction of evolution and its meanings... [T]his book serves as an excellent introduction to the principal themes of her work."

Source: Philosophy Review

Credit: Jeffery Nicholas

"Rivera's books exposes Midgley's entire oeuvre to discover an openness to the validity of religious thought... His greatest contributions to an analysis of Midgley is what he has to say throughout about Midgley's thinking from the ground up."
Paperback
- Publication Date: 01 September 2010
- ISBN-13: 9781845402129
- Extent: Main content page count : 244
- Code: 184540212X
- Dimensions: 13.5 x 21 x 1.7 cm
- Weight: 300 grams
- List Price: £14.95
- ONIX Version 2.1, Version 3

Details

Title: The Earth Is Our Home
Subtitle: Mary Midgley's critique and reconstruction of evolution and its meanings
Author: Nelson Rivera
Language: English
Publisher: Imprint Academic
Imprint: Imprint Academic

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