RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public...

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RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understand ing of Science at Oxford University. His books about evolution and science include The Selfish Gene , The Extended Phen otype , The Blind Watchma ker , River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, and

Transcript of RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public...

Page 2: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Dawkins rejects any concept of an immortal soul

• River Out of Eden, 1995, puts forward a case for biological materialism

Page 3: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

“There is no spirit-driven life force, no throbbing, heaving, pullulating, protoplasmic, mystic jelly. Life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information.”

Page 4: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

Dawkins argument for a biologically materialist system for life concludes that any evidence of “divine activity” is an illusion.

Page 5: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Humans are merely carriers of DNA.

• Information flows through time, but bones and tissue do not.

• Evolution is the only rational theory.

Page 6: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• It is not our soul that guides us, but our genetic make-up.

• Over time the good genes survive; the bad genes die out.

Page 7: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• We are as we are because of our genetic makeup, not the efforts of our soul to guide us towards the realm of ideas.

• No soul continues, only DNA, the function of life.

Page 8: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• The belief, therefore, in an immortal soul is anachronistic and damaging to human endeavour.

• He argues that myths (such as Plato’s Forms) and faiths are not supported by evidence.

Page 9: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Scientific beliefs are supported by evidence.

• Life lacks purpose and is indifferent to suffering.

• There is no Creator-God.

Page 10: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Our sense of self and individuality is based on digital information, not the soul.

• Our genes are a colony of information that wants to be replicated.

• It is easier for this to happen in a multi-cell organism.

Page 11: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• The genes are found in behaviour so the bodies acquire individuality.

• We feel like a single organism, not a colony, as selection has favoured genes that cooperate.

Page 12: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Genes working together give us a sense of individuality, not the soul.

• The colony needs a central control.

• The genetic model becomes more complex . . .

Page 13: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• And thinks about itself as an individual and considers the consequences of its actions.

• This leads to human culture, a ‘replicator’ or ‘meme’

Page 14: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Tunes, catchphrases, quotes, teachings which are heard and lodged in the brain and then imitated by it.

• At death, we leave behind genes and memes though the genes will quickly be dispersed.

Page 15: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• DNA survival brings about the body and individual consciousness creates culture.

• This is the soul.

Page 16: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• As Dawkins presents it, everything is developed through a natural process.

• There is no injection of self or soul from outside; no need (as Plato had thought) to suggest a pre-existence in order to explain our knowledge.

Page 17: RICHARD DAWKINS Professor of the Public Understanding of ScienceProfessor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His books about.

• Read pages 147 and 148 from

OCR EditionOCR Edition Jordan, Lockyer and Tate

• Answer in written form all 4 “Something to think about” from these pages for next lesson.