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by Gert Korthof, 12 Apr 2006 (updated 23 Mar 2025)
| Books by: Richard Dawkins  Charles DarwinErnst MayrJohn Maynard Smith Michael Ruse |
Richard Dawkins (1976) 'The Selfish Gene' Oxford University Press, ahrdback 224 pages.A classic now 30 years old and still in print. "The Selfish Gene and the first two chapters of The Extended Phenotype are a comprehensive guide to what a gene-centred view of evolution is and is not about" (Marian Stamp Dawkins in: 1, page 47). This work neither attacks religion nor defends atheism, it is simply not about religion. Dawkins purpose is "to examine the biology of selfishness and altruism". "I shall argue that the fundamental unit of selection, and therefore of self-interest, is not the species, nor the group, nor even, strictly, the individual. It is the gene." (page 12, Ch 1). The Selfish Gene is "an introduction to evolutionary theory, it explains a number of deeply counter-intuitive results, including how an apparently self-centered process like Darwinian natural selection can account for the evolution of altruism (review: Allen Orr). "As Dawkins explains, the book might as well have been called 'The Cooperative Gene' (Coyne). It would have been better to do just that! he concept 'symbiosis' is present (pages 195-197). Books and reviews responding to The Selfish Gene:
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 6 Sep 2024 |
Richard Dawkins (1989) 'The Selfish Gene' (1989) Oxford University Press, new edition, paperback, 352 pages. In this extended edition there is a short 'Preface to the 1989 edition' and two new chapters:
Chapter 13: "An uneasy tension disturbs the heart of the selfish gene theory. It is the tension between gene and individual body as a fundamental agent of life. (...) How shall we resolve this paradox of the two ways of looking at life?" (p.234)
Richard Dawkins (1982,1999)'The extended phenotype. The long reach of the gene'. Oxford University Press, paperback 313 pages.The 1984 OUP paperback edition has the title 'The Extended Phenotype : The Gene as a Unit of Selection'. This book "extends the gene-centric view beyond bodies to all that results from gene-driven behaviours. This book, too, is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand evolution" (Jerry A. Coyne). "The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins' second book, was one huge attempt to catch and respond to general accusations and misperceptions when it came to such things as adaptation, unit of selection, the relationship between macro- and micro-evolution, and others." (Ullica Segerstråle in: 1, page 87). A new paperback edition with a fully revised internal design (2016). According to Ernst Mayr: "On one occasion Dawkins (ref. 13, point 7) himself admits that the gene is not an object of selection: ". . . genetic replicators are selected not directly, but by proxy . . . [by] their phenotypic effects." Precisely!" (2).Book review by John Maynard Smith: Genes and Memes in LRB. A critique of Dawkins views on groupselection can be found in Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson (1999) Unto Others, p.50-51, 78 (second printing, paperback).
Richard Dawkins (1991) 'The Blind Watchmaker' Penguin Books, paperback 340 pages with appendix."This book is written in the conviction that our own existence once presented the greatest of all mysteries, but that it is a mystery no longer because it is solved. Darwin and Wallace solved, though we shall continue to add footnotes to their solutions for a while yet." (Preface to the book by RD). The Norton reissue edition (1996) has the title: The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design. The watchmaker is borrowed from a famous treatise by the eighteenth century theologian William Paley. According to RD evolution is a refutation of Paley's proof of the existence of God. So, if somebody believes in God because of the evidence, then this book will be experienced as atheistic. However, if someone believes in God for other reasons (independent of any evidence), then this book is not necessarily atheistic and is no challenge to religion.
Richard Dawkins (1995) 'River Out of Eden Phoenix paperback 196 pages. "perhaps the most concise and cogent science writing, as well as the clearest discussion of the nature of evolution, I had yet read" (Lawrence M. Krauss in Nature). Contains also the famous statement: "The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference." (close of chapter 4.) At the start of chapter 4 there is a similar passage following the story of the digger wasp who lays her eggs in a living caterpillar: "This sounds savagely cruel but, as we shall see, Nature is not cruel, only pitilessly indifferent. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose." Richard Dawkins (1996) 'Climbing Mount Improbable' Viking hardback 308 pages. Book review by Jerry Fodor: Peacocking, LRB.
Richard Dawkins (1998) 'Unweaving the Rainbow. Science, Delusion and The Appetite for Wonder" Houghton Mifflin Company hardback 337 pages.Review: Thomas Nagel: Why so cross?, LRB.
Richard Dawkins (2003) 'A Devil's Chaplain Weidenfeld & Nicolson hardback 264 pages.Selected essays.
Richard Dawkins (2004) 'The Ancestors Tale. A Pilgrimage to the dawn of life', Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Orion Pub Group) 528 pages.The W&N edition is the luxurious edition (color illustr). Other editions are: Houghton Mifflin hardback with b&w illustr. (2004); Mariner Books paperback (2005) and Phoenix paperback (2005) with colorplates. The ancestors tale shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world. Mixotricha paradoxa: "The full story was revealed by the work of L.R. Cleveland and A.V. Grimstone, but it is especially the American biologist Lynn Margulis who has drawn our attention to Mixotricha's significance for evolution." (page 441, hardback). Richard Dawkins (2006) 'The God Delusion', Bantam (hb,pb) and Houghton Mifflin (hb)."Although Richard Dawkins is sometimes portrayed as agreeing with the intelligent design movement's position that evolution is inconsistent with Christianity (or with theism in general), his position in his ambitious polemic The God Delusion (2006) is not so crude. For Dawkins, evolution is not a disproof of the existence of God, but a disproof of the only plausible argument -the argument from design- for the existence of God. Even so, efforts to argue that evolution is compatible with, or even enriches, Christianity are presumably not going to interest him." Glenn Branch BioScience March 2007 / Vol. 57 No. 3 pp 278-284 Reviews:
Interviews:
Richard Dawkins (2009) 'The greatest show on earth. Evidence for evolution' Bantam Press hardback 470 pages, and Simon & Schuster.This is a book about the positive evidence that evolution is a fact. It is not intended as an anti-religious book. Quotes:
"The Magic of Reality. How We Know What's Really True",Richard Dawkins (2012). Free Press (Simon and Schuster), New York, 2012 Paperback: 267 pp., illus. A graphic science book aimed primarily at children and young adults. See: wikipeadia article. Translations: Dutch: De betoverende werkelijkheid, Nieuw Amsterdam.
"Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science" Bantam.Richard Dawkins 2015 Review in Nature (10 September 2015): Nathaniel Comfort takes issue with the second instalment of the evolutionary biologist's autobiography. ... Finally, he abandons the memoir format to do what he does best: write about science. The book concludes with a mammoth 120-page chapter recapitulating the ontogeny of his thought. ... For a time, Dawkins was a rebellious scientific rock star. Now, his critique of religion seems cranky, and his immovably genocentric universe is parochial. Brief Candle is about as edgy as Sir Mick and the Rolling Stones cranking out the 3,578th rendition of 'Brown Sugar' – a treat for fans, but reinscribing boundaries rather than crossing them. Also as ebook. "Outgrowing God: A beginner's guide" (2019) Random House.
"Flights of Fancy. Defying gravity by Design and Evolution." (2021) Apollo book. Illustrated.Publisher website: Head of Zeus.
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Articles by Richard Dawkins 
"Science Discredits Religion", Quarterly Review of Biology 72 (1997): 397-399. Reprinted in: Philosophy of Religion.
Selected Readings Second edition (2001).in which Dawkins argues against Gould's 'non-overlapping Magisteria' and argues that science and religion do conflict in their content (for example Virgin Birth). However, in fact this essay does not argue that 'science discredits religion', but that certain religious claims are within the domain of science and do contradict science. So the title is overblown and an overkill. Books about Richard Dawkins
Alan Grafen, Mark Ridley (editors) (2006) 'Richard Dawkins. How A Scientist Changed The Way We Think. Reflections by scientists, writers and philosophers'. Oxford University Press hardback. 283 pagesA collection of essays written for the 30th anniversary of The Selfish Gene. Essays under the heading 'Biology' (Andrew Read, Helena Cronin, John Krebs, Michael Hansell), 'The Selfish Gene' (Marian Stamp Dawkins, David Haig, Alan Grafen, Ullica Segerstrale), 'Logic' (Daniel Dennett, Seth Bullock, David Deutsch, Steven Pinker), 'Antiphonal voices' (Michael Ruse, Patrick Bateson, Robert Aunger), 'Humans' (Martin Daly & Margo Wilson, Randolph Nesse, Kim Sterelny), 'Controversy' (Michael Shermer, Richard Harries, A Grayling, Marek Kohn, David Barash), 'Writing' (Matt Ridley, Philip Pullman). In the Controversy section Alister McGrath, who wrote a book length criticism (see below), is missing and Mark Ridley, who wrote a book 'The Cooperative Gene' (3) (which is opposed to the notion 'Selfish Gene') is missing in the section Controversy. Reviews: Nature, Science, Times Literary Supplement.
"Dawkins' God. Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life"by Alister McGrath (2005) Blackwell paperback 202 pages. (4) McGrath: "The real issue for me is how Dawkins proceeds from a Darwinian theory of evolution to a confident atheistic worldview." "The basic conclusion is that Darwinism neither proves nor disproves the existence of God". McGrath's opinion about William Paley's argument is unexpectedly dismissive: "But it cannot be regarded as a refutation of Christianity itself". Paley was already rejected by leading Christian writers of his time before Darwin refuted Paley's argument! McGrath does not explain why Paley was rejected ('reject' is not the same as 'refute'!). Although I do not defend him, Paley was more sophisticated than McGrath presents him. Neither does he explain why today many still defend Paley (for example Michael Denton and Intelligent Design advocates). McGrath about Dawkins' books: "After reading Dawkins' substantial output, I found that a rhetorical analysis of his works suggested that they could easily be divided into two categories": (p. 108)
"Dawkins vs. Gould. Survival of the Fittest"by Kim Sterelny (2001) Icon Books 156 pages. By describing and examining Dawkins' and Gould's conflicting views about evolutionary theory, both positions are illuminated and in the end the reader has gained new insights into the modern theory of evolution. Sterelny: "Dawkins is right about evolution on local scales, but maybe Gould is right about the relationship between events on a local scale, and those on the vast scale of palaeontological time."
"Mystery of Mysteries. Is Evolution a Social Construction?"by Michael Ruse, 1999. Harvard University Press. Chapter 6 Burying the Watchmaker is about values in Richard Dawkins' science. "A Huge amount of hostility to religion is also characteristic of Dawkins's writings" (p.130). Notes
Further Reading
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| Korthof blogspot | home: Towards The Third Evolutionary Synthesis | wasdarwinwrong.com/korthof81.htm |
| Copyright ©G. Korthof 2006 | First published: 12 Apr 2006 | Updated: 23 mrt 2025 F.R./Notes 30 Nov 2013 |
The Richard Dawkins Collection (The Genius of Charles Darwin, The Enemies of Reason and The Root of All Evil?) [Region 2] (2008)