Richard Dawkins's Biography(Photos)

Clinton Richard Dawkins, frs, frsl (born 26
March 1941) is a British biological theorist

Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that because of
genetic recombination and sexual

with a background in ethology, ethologist and
popular science writer. He is a popular

reproduction, from an individual gene's
viewpoint all other genes are part of the

science author focusing on evolution.

environment to which it is adapted. To those
who opposed the "selfish gene" idea, Dawkins

Dawkins is one of Britain's best-known
academics. He came to prominence with his

could be merciless; a typical example of
Dawkins' position was his scathing review of

1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised
the gene-centred view of evolution and

Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J.
Kamin and Richard C. Lewontin.

introduced the term meme. In 1982, he further
developed the gene-centred view with his book

The concept of the selfish gene has cause

The Extended Phenotype:The Gene as the Unit
of Selection, emphasizing that the phenotypic

some controversy because of its apparent
philosophical implications, based on one's

effects of genes are not necessarily limited
to an organism's body but can stretch via

theory of mind and whether one views the
validity of the concept of selfish gene as

biochemistry and behaviour into other
organisms and the environment. He is

definitely the primary or perhaps only means
of selection. Some, such as Steven Pinker and

well-known as a presenter of the case for
rationalism and scientific thinking. His

Daniel Dennett, accept the latter. Dennett
has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution

later works continued to expand upon these
ideas and their implications.

and defended reductionism in biology. A pair
of new disciplines that emerged from this

Dawkins is one of the world's most widely

school of thought were sociobiology and
evolutionary psychology. While many

publicised atheists. He is a prominent critic
of religion, creationism and a wide variety

biologists think of selfish gene as one of
several possible mechanisms by which

of pseudoscience. In his 1986 book The Blind
Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution

selection occurs and may or may not use its
terminology to describe their work, some

Reveals a Universe Without Design, he argued
against the watchmaker analogy, an argument

non-biologists have expressed concern that an
overemphasis on the concept leads one to make

for the existence of a supernatural creator
based upon the complexity of living

oversimplifications and to infer erroneous
implications. This difference in emphasis

organisms. Instead, he described a
dysteleological perspective on the process of

lead to the so-called 'Darwin Wars' (which is
closely related to the ongoing evolutionary

psychology controversy), leading to several
exchanges between Dawkins and the American

million-selling book The God Delusion, he
contended that a supernatural creator almost

paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould over the
matter. He has consistently been sceptical

certainly does not exist, writing that such
beliefs, based on faith rather than on

about non-adaptive processes in evolution
(such as spandrels, described by Gould and

evidence, qualify as a delusion. He was a
co-founder of the Out Campaign, as a means of

Lewontin) and about selection at levels
"above" that of the gene. Despite their

advancing atheism and freethought.

academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did
not have a hostile personal relationship, and

Dawkins retired from Oxford University in
2008 and remains a writer and public figure.

Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003
book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to

Gould, who had died the previous year. The
philosopher Mary Midgley, whom Dawkins

Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Colony of Kenya,

clashed with in print concerning The Selfish
Gene, has criticised gene selection, memetics

British Empire. His father, Clinton John
Dawkins, was an agricultural civil servant in

and sociobiology as being excessively
reductionist.

the British colonial service, in Nyasaland
(now Malawi). His father was called up into

the King's African Rifles during the second
world war and was based in Kenya and his

Dawkins coined the word meme (the cultural

equivalent of a gene) to describe how
Darwinian principles might be extended to

interested in natural sciences, and they
answered his questions in scientific terms.

explain the spread of ideas and cultural
phenomena. This has spawned the field of

He describes his childhood as "a normal
Anglican upbringing". Though he began having

memetics. Dawkins' memes refer to any
cultural entity which an observer might

doubts about the existence of God when he was
about nine years old, he was persuaded by the

consider a replicator. He hypothesised that
people could view many cultural entities as

argument from design, an argument for the
existence of God or a creator based on

capable of such replication, generally
through exposure to humans, who have evolved

perceived evidence of order, purpose, or
design in nature. He attended Oundle School

as efficient (although not perfect) copiers
of information and behaviour. Memes are not

from 1954 to 1959. By his mid-teens, he had
instead concluded that the theory of

always copied perfectly, and might indeed
become refined, combined or otherwise

evolution was a better explanation for life's
complexity, and became nonreligious.

modified with other ideas, resulting in new
memes, which may themselves prove more, or

Dawkins studied zoology at Balliol College,

less, efficient replicators than their
predecessors, thus providing a framework for

Oxford, where he was tutored by Nobel
Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen,

a hypothesis of cultural evolution, analogous
to the theory of biological evolution based

graduating in 1962. He continued as a
research student under Tinbergen's

on genes. Since originally outlining the idea
in his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins has

supervision at the University of Oxford,
receiving his M.A. and D.Phil. degrees in

largely left the task of expanding upon it to
other authors such as Susan Blackmore.

1966, while staying as a research assistant
for another year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in

Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience

the study of animal behaviour, particularly
the questions of instinct, learning and

and alternative medicine. His 1998 book
Unweaving the Rainbow takes John Keats'

choice. His research in this period concerned
models of animal decision making.

accusation that, by explaining the rainbow,
Isaac Newton had diminished its beauty, and

Career in academia Further information: List
of academic papers by Dawkins

argues for the opposite conclusion. He
suggests that deep space, the billions of

From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant

years of life's evolution, and the
microscopic workings of biology and heredity

professor of zoology at the University of
California, Berkeley. During this period, the

contain more beauty and wonder than do
"myths" and "pseudoscience". Dawkins wrote a

students and faculty at UC Berkeley were
largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War,

foreword to John Diamond's posthumously
published Snake Oil, a book devoted to

and he became heavily involved in the
anti-war demonstrations and activities. He

debunking alternative medicine, in which he
asserted that alternative medicine was

returned to the University of Oxford in 1970
as a lecturer in zoology, and in 1990 was

harmful, if only because it distracted
patients from more successful conventional

appointed a Reader.

treatments, and gave people false hopes.
Dawkins later wrote that "there is no

In 1995, Dawkins was appointed Simonyi
Professor for the Public Understanding of

alternative medicine. There is only medicine
that works and medicine that doesn't work."

Science in the University of Oxford, a
position that had been endowed by Charles

In the 2007 TV documentary The Enemies of
Reason, Dawkins discusses what he sees as the

Simonyi with the express intention that the
holder "be expected to make important

contributions to the public understanding of
some scientific field". Since 1970, he has

specifically cites astrology, spiritualism,
dowsing, alternative faiths, alternative

been a fellow of New College, Oxford. In
September 2008, he retired from Oxford.

medicine and homeopathy. He has noted that
libel laws in Britain and particularly how

Dawkins has been referred to in the media as

they are enforced in London stifles criticism
of pseudoscience.

"Darwin's Rottweiler", by analogy with
English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known

Dawkins has taken stances as an

as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of
Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. During a

environmentalist and with selected aspects of
animal rights. As a supporter of the Great

mid-2008 bbc video on the science advice he
might give to a U.S. President, Dawkins

Ape Project – a movement to extend certain
moral and legal rights to all great apes –

suggested
In order not to believe in evolution you

Dawkins contributed an article entitled "Gaps
in the Mind" to the Great Ape Project book

must either be ignorant, stupid or insane".

edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer.
In this essay, he criticises contemporary

society's moral attitudes as being based on a
"discontinuous, speciesist imperative".

Dawkins' latest book, entitled The Greatest

Dawkins has expressed concern about the
growth of the planet's human population, and

Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution,
expounds the evidence for biological

about the matter of overpopulation. In The
Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population

evolution. All of his previous works dealing
with evolution had assumed its truth, and not

growth, giving the example of Latin America,
whose population, at the time the book was

explicitly provided the evidence to this
effect. This book was written to fill that

written, was doubling every 40 years. He is
critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to

gap. He has announced plans to "write a book
aimed at youngsters in which he will warn

them against believing in 'anti-scientific'
fairytales". It will be published by

and "express a preference for 'natural'
methods of population limitation" will get

Transworld, and is set to be released in
autumn 2011.

just such a method in the form of Malthusian
catastrophe such as starvation.

Selfish gene Further information:

Dawkins has be involved in many media

Gene-centred view of evolution

productions about this political agenda. He
regularly comments on contemporary political

In his scientific works, Dawkins is best
known for his popularisation of the

questions via Internet and traditional media;
his opinions include opposition to the 2003

gene-centred view of evolution. This view is
most clearly set out in his books The Selfish

invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear
deterrent and many of the actions of U.S.

Gene (1976), where he notes that "all life
evolves by the differential survival of

replicating entities", and The Extended
Phenotype (1982), in which he describes

an anthology of writings about science,
religion and politics. He is a supporter of

natural selection as "the process whereby
replicators out-propagate each other". In his

the Republic campaign to replace the British
monarchy with a democratically-elected

role as an ethologist, interested in animal
behaviour and its relation to natural

president. In The Enemies of Reason
documentary he discusses how the Internet can

selection, he advocates the idea that the
gene is the principal unit of selection in

be used to spread religious hatred and
conspiracy theories with scant attention to

evolution. Dawkins popularised these ideas in
The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his

evidence-based reasoning. Dawkins is set to
present an episode of the upcoming five-part

own work. He is particularly sceptical about
the practical possibility or importance of

television series The Genius of Britain,
along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking,

group selection as a basis for understanding
altruism. This behaviour appears at first to

James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili.
This is part of a long-standing partnership

be an evolutionary paradox, since helping
others costs precious resources and decreases

with Channel 4. The programme will focus on
major British scientific achievements

one's own fitness. Previously, many had
interpreted this as an aspect of group

throughout history.

selection: individuals were doing what was
best for the survival of the population or

species as a whole, and not specifically for
themselves. British evolutionary biologist W.

In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins
Foundation for Reason and Science (rdfrs), a

D. Hamilton had used the gene-centred view to
explain altruism in terms of inclusive

non-profit organisation. The foundation is in
developmental phase. The Foundation was

fitness and kin selection that individuals
behave altruistically toward their close

granted charitable status in the United
Kingdom and the United States. RDFRS plans to

relatives, who share many of their own genes.
Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms

finance research on the psychology of belief
and religion, finance scientific education

of the gene-centred model, developed the
theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one

programs and materials, and publicise and
support secular charitable organisations. The

organism provides a benefit to another in the
expectation of future reciprocation. In The

foundation offers humanist, rationalist and
scientific materials and information through

Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is
using George C. Williams' definition of the

its website. Unedited interviews of some of
Dawkins' video productions are made available

gene as "that which segregates and recombines
with appreciable frequency". In The Extended

by the RDFRS.