Owl of Minerva A Memoir [Paperback]

In spite of her many books and public profile, little is known about Marys life. Part of a famous generation of women philosophers that includes Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Warnock and Iris Murdoch, Midgley tells us in vivid and humorous fashion how they cut a swathe through the arid landscape of 1950s British Philosophy, writing and arguing about the grand themes of character, beauty and the meaning of rudeness.

The mother of three children, her journey is one of a woman who during the 1950s and 1960s was fighting to combine a professional career with raising a family. In startling contrast to many of the academic stars of her generation, we learn that Midgley nearly became a novelist and started writing philosophy only when in her fifties, suggesting that Minervas owl really does fly at dusk.

Charting the highs and lows of philosophy and academia in Britain, this publication sheds light on Marys close friends, her moral philosophy and her meetings with major philosophers, including Wittgenstein and Isaiah Berlin.

 

Foreword: Light, Darkness and Owls  Part 1: Early Days, 1924-33.  Greenford Rectory  Starting School.  Moving On.  Greenford Growing.  Parental Activities.  Other Scrutton Relatives.  More Relatives: The Hays.  Ladies and Non-Ladies  Part 2: Ancestors.  Thomas Urquhart and the Universal Language.  Early Scruttons.  The Lord Justice  Part 3: At Downe House School, 1932-37.  lG