In Utopias, Dolphins and Computers Mary Midgley looks at the chronic difficulty of thinking straight about fundamental problems. She argues, with her customary clarity, warmth of tone and gentle wit, that philosophy offers a way of solving some of the most pressing contemporary problems. Where then does the real world need philosophy? It needs it when we want to consider such issues as environmental sustainability; educational ones such as the separation...

Philosophers have traditionally concentrated on the qualities that make human beings different from other species. In Beast and Man Mary Midgley, one of our foremost intellectuals, stresses continuities. What makes people tick? Largely, she asserts, the same things as animals. She tells us humans are rather more like other animals than we previously allowed ourselves to believe, and reminds us just how primitive we are in comparison to the sophistication...