Dawkins' God From The Selfish Gene to The God Delusion

• Includes in-depth analysis of Dawkins’ landmark treatise The God Delusion (2006), as well as coverage of his later popular works The Magic of Reality (2011) and The Greatest Show on Earth (2011),and a new chapter on Dawkins as a popularizer of science
• Tackles Dawkins’ hostile and controversial views on religion, and examine the religious implications of his scientific ideas including a comprehensive investigation of the ‘selfish gene’
• Written in an accessible and engaging style that will appeal to anyone interested in better understanding the interplay between science and religion

Introduction 1

1 Darwinism: The Rise of a Scientific Theory 7

Natural Selection: Charles Darwin 9

The Mechanics of Inheritance: Gregor Mendel 18

The Discovery of the Gene: Thomas Hunt Morgan 21

The Role of DNA in Genetics 24

What’s in a Name? “Darwinism” or “Evolutionary Theory”? 26

2 The Selfish Gene: A Darwinian View of the World 32

Introducing Dawkins 33

Dawkins’ Approach: The Selfish Gene 38

The Place of Humanity in a Darwinian Universe 44

Are Genes Really Selfish? 47

What Remains of the “Selfish Gene” Approach? 51

3 Blind Faith?: Evidence, Proof, and Rationality in Science and Religion 57

Faith as Blind Trust? 60

Is Atheism Itself a Faith? 68

Is Christian Faith Irrational? 71

The Problem of Radical Theory Change in Science 77

The Limits of Science 80

Mystery, Insanity, and Nonsense 82

4 The Blind Watchmaker: Evolution and the Elimination of God? 86

The Contours of a Darwinian Worldview 86

Is Darwinism a Complete Explanation? 91

God as an Explanatory Hypothesis? 93

The Elimination of Purpose: Dawkins on Teleology in Nature 96

The Divine Watchmaker: Paley’s Grand (but Correctable) Mistake 98

Dynamic Conceptions of Creation: Augustine of Hippo 107

Natural Selection and Religious Beliefs: Darwin’s Views 111

The Christian Reaction to Darwin 116

5 Cultural Darwinism?: The Invention of the Meme 120

Universal Darwinism: The Evolution of Culture 120

Introducing the Meme 122

Introducing the “God-Meme” 125

Is Cultural Development Darwinian? 128

Do Memes Actually Exist? 131

The Flawed Analogy between Gene and Meme 133

The Redundancy of the Meme 136

God as a Virus of the Mind? 139

Moving On … 143

6 The God Delusion: Dawkins on Atheism, Science,  and Religion 144

The Cultural Location of The God Delusion 145

The “Warfare” of Science and Religion 149

Natural Science Leads to Neither Atheism Nor Christianity 155

Science, Faith, and Evidence 157

A Darwinian Explanation of Belief in God? 162

Awe, Wonder, and Religion 166

Conclusion 170

Select Bibliography 173

Index 184

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.