{"product_id":"9781844652532","title":"The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn The Solitary Self, renowned philosopher Mary Midgley explores the nature of our moral constitution to challenge the view that reduces human motivation to self-interest. Midgley argues cogently and convincingly that simple, one-sided accounts of human motives, such as the ?selfish gene? tendency in recent neo-Darwinian thought, may be illuminating but are always unrealistic. Such neatness, she shows, cannot be imposed on human psychology.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMidgley returns to the original writings of Charles Darwin to show how the reductive individualism that is now presented as Darwinism does not derive from Darwin but from a wider, Hobbesian tradition m Enlightenment thinking. She reveals the ?selfish gene? hypothesis in evolutionary biology as a cultural accretion that is not seen in nature. Heroic independence, argues Midgley, is not a realistic aim for Homo sapiens. We are, as Darwin saw, earthly organisms framed to interact with one another and with the complex ecosystems of which we are a tiny part. For us, bonds are not just restraints but also lifelines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Solitary Self is a significant re-reading of Darwin and an important corrective to recent work in evolutionary science, which has wide implications for debates in science, religion, psychology and ethics.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Acumen Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47039246139632,"sku":"9781844652532","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781844652532_p0.jpg?v=1763744464","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781844652532","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}