RIP Marjoire Grene, Philosopher of Biology
via Jezebel:
Marjorie Grene, a Leading Philosopher of Biology, Is Dead at 98
And here's a great interview with her at age 94 from The Believer Magazine
Some choice quotes:
THE BELIEVER: You were recently featured as the subject of the twenty-ninth volume of the Library of Living Philosophers. Previous editions have been devoted to Alfred North Whitehead, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Dewey, and even Albert Einstein. What did you think when they approached you about doing this?
MARJORIE GRENE: I thought they must be looking desperately for a woman.
BLVR: You’ve said your start in philosophy was rocky, with your instructors at Wellesley insisting that you begin with Descartes’ cogito. You refused to accept the cogito as a starting point. I’m not sure I know what that means, to reject that as a premise.
MG: Descartes goes through hyperbolical doubt and comes to this moment when he says: I think, and I am every moment I am thinking, because I have this inner awareness of myself. And I always thought there was something fishy about that. I don’t think there’s any privileged self-knowledge. Most of our attention is to things outside us.
BLVR: Was there any connection between your studying with Jaspers and then studying Kierkegaard in Denmark? Was Kierkegaard a popular subject at the time?
MG: Not that I know of. But I had written an awful dissertation on Existenzphilosophie and it seemed reasonable to look at the person who was supposed to have started it all. I knew my dissertation wasn’t any good. And I didn’t think Kierkegaard any good at the time either.
BLVR: I should probably ask too about a few other popular figures. Before we started, you said something about Michael Ruse. What’s wrong with him?
MG: What’s wrong with him? He’s totally uninteresting. His earlier book on the Darwinian revolution wasn’t too bad. But ever since he declared-I mean, he’s a follower of that awful E. O. Wilson-ever since he declared “morality is an illusion foisted upon us by our genes,” I haven’t taken him seriously.
MG: [re: E. O. Wlson] Oh, but Wilson’s terribly crude. He’s just the farthest thing from a philosopher. He says, [paraphrasing] “Philosophers believe that ethics is based on intuition, but it isn’t, it’s based on some part of the brain,” I don’t know, I’ve forgotten what exactly. But philosophers don’t all believe that ethics is just based on intuition. That’s just stupid! It’s ignoramus! I mean, he’s very good apparently, I guess, at ants as social insects, but he’s not very good at anything to do with people.
BLVR: What is philosophy for?
MG: It isn’t for anything! What is knowledge for? It’s no use trying to talk philosophy to our politicians. And I’m not a moral or political philosopher. I’m not interested in that.
Marjorie Grene, a Leading Philosopher of Biology, Is Dead at 98
And here's a great interview with her at age 94 from The Believer Magazine
Some choice quotes:
THE BELIEVER: You were recently featured as the subject of the twenty-ninth volume of the Library of Living Philosophers. Previous editions have been devoted to Alfred North Whitehead, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Dewey, and even Albert Einstein. What did you think when they approached you about doing this?
MARJORIE GRENE: I thought they must be looking desperately for a woman.
BLVR: You’ve said your start in philosophy was rocky, with your instructors at Wellesley insisting that you begin with Descartes’ cogito. You refused to accept the cogito as a starting point. I’m not sure I know what that means, to reject that as a premise.
MG: Descartes goes through hyperbolical doubt and comes to this moment when he says: I think, and I am every moment I am thinking, because I have this inner awareness of myself. And I always thought there was something fishy about that. I don’t think there’s any privileged self-knowledge. Most of our attention is to things outside us.
BLVR: Was there any connection between your studying with Jaspers and then studying Kierkegaard in Denmark? Was Kierkegaard a popular subject at the time?
MG: Not that I know of. But I had written an awful dissertation on Existenzphilosophie and it seemed reasonable to look at the person who was supposed to have started it all. I knew my dissertation wasn’t any good. And I didn’t think Kierkegaard any good at the time either.
BLVR: I should probably ask too about a few other popular figures. Before we started, you said something about Michael Ruse. What’s wrong with him?
MG: What’s wrong with him? He’s totally uninteresting. His earlier book on the Darwinian revolution wasn’t too bad. But ever since he declared-I mean, he’s a follower of that awful E. O. Wilson-ever since he declared “morality is an illusion foisted upon us by our genes,” I haven’t taken him seriously.
MG: [re: E. O. Wlson] Oh, but Wilson’s terribly crude. He’s just the farthest thing from a philosopher. He says, [paraphrasing] “Philosophers believe that ethics is based on intuition, but it isn’t, it’s based on some part of the brain,” I don’t know, I’ve forgotten what exactly. But philosophers don’t all believe that ethics is just based on intuition. That’s just stupid! It’s ignoramus! I mean, he’s very good apparently, I guess, at ants as social insects, but he’s not very good at anything to do with people.
BLVR: What is philosophy for?
MG: It isn’t for anything! What is knowledge for? It’s no use trying to talk philosophy to our politicians. And I’m not a moral or political philosopher. I’m not interested in that.