In this major work, Mary Midgley, one of our foremost intellectuals argues that humans are rather more like animals than we have previously allowed ourselves to believe.

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 of many animals. A veritable classic for our age, Beast and Man has helped change the way we think about ourselves and the world in which we live.

'This is a very important book ... Midgley has provided an urgently needed bridge between science and philosophy.' - Iris Murdoch'A brilliant and persuasive attempt to set us in our animal context, to show us to ourselves as at home in the world, and to indicate a morality for society without religious absolutes - a morality of which we see the rudiments in our brother species.' - The Observer'A wonderful breath of fresh air and a book for non-philosophers as much as for philosophers.' - Mary Warnock