English philosopher Mary Midgley, "an important writer on ethics, the relations of humans and animals, our tendency to misconstrue science, and the role of myth and poetry," died October 10, the Guardian reported. She was 99. Midgley published numerous books and articles "in which she identified the limitations of only trying to understand things by breaking them down into smaller parts and losing sight of the many ways in which parts are dependent on the wholes in which they exist."
Her many books include What Is Philosophy For?; Wickedness; Are You an Illusion?; Owl of Minerva: A Memoir; The Solitary Self: Darwin and the Selfish Gene; Beast and Man; Evolution as a Religion; The Myths We Live By; and Science as Salvation.
"I keep thinking that I shall have no more to say--and then finding some wonderfully idiotic doctrine which I can contradict," she observed in a 2001 interview with the Guardian, which reported that Midgley's friends "noted with amusement that one of the targets she attacked with particular vigor was the regrettable liability of humans to fall into overly combative debate. And she could herself be guilty of unsympathetic interpretation of her opponents. But her major targets were the tempting muddles to which we are all prone, in particular when we do not keep in check our tendencies to simplify and exaggerate."