ABSTRACT

I enjoyed reading Mary Midgley’s straightforward and well-written critique of scientific critics of the cosmos. Her discussion of the world views of Thomas Huxley, Jacques Monod and Steven Weinberg goes right to the heart of the matter. She convincingly questions the claimed neutrality of Monod’s and Weinberg’s scientistic accounts of the relationship between humans and nature. Moreover, her alternative view – according to which human beings are necessarily embedded in, and essentially dependent on, nature – certainly has much to recommend it.