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The Selfish Gene

Author: Richard Dawkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

68 reviews
Sales Rank: 555825

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224

ISBN: 019857519X
EAN: 9780198575191
ASIN: 019857519X

Publication Date: October 28, 1976
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

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Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

Blind theorizing June 27, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful

Dawkins writes that "the argument of this book is that we, and all other animals, are machines created by our genes" (p.xxi) and that "We are survival machines - robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes" (p.xxi). Yet, according to him, this book "is not science fiction; it is science" (p.xxi)!

Dawkins contrives to overlook the twin discoveries that:
1.the observable traits of organisms are mostly conditioned by the interactions of many genes;
2.most genes have multiple effects on many of these traits.

Dawkins transfers characteristics with which he is familiar from human behaviour on the macro-level to the inanimate components, "genes", of which we are physically constructed. He then proceeds to argue that these impersonal entities, which he imagines to possess characteristically human traits, infallibly generate the same unpleasant traits in human behaviour on the macro-level. So he writes: "The gene is the basic unit of selfishness" (p.36).

The absurdity is evident in that genes or other nonconscious entities cannot be either selfish or unselfish. They cannot "compete" against anything or "choose" anything.

If Dawkins were right, what would be the point of declaring, as he does: "Let us try to *teach* generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish" (p.3)? For if we really were machines, as he believes, even these very concepts would be meaningless to us. And certainly his oratory could have no effect whatever on our actual behaviour.

In fact genes do not force us to behave in any particular way. Neither can they possess the ability to direct or to comprehend all that is required to adopt a course of either heartless selfishness or heartfelt, sacrificial compassion.

3 out of 5 stars

Scientifically sound but philosophically flawed May 29, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Darwin's theory of evolution is no doubt a successful scientific hypothesis, and Prof. Dawkins brings across this very clearly. However, I do have some doubts regarding his philosophical assertions.

Essentially Prof. Dawkins believes that:

1) Selfishness and competition is at the root of all biological phenomena - nature as "red in tooth and claw"
2) There is no basic "dis-continuity" between humanity and other animals - humans are not qualitatively different from other animals
3) There is however no ethical dilemma between this basic fact and the human desire for goodness - since descriptive and normative realities are intrinsically separate (what is and what should be are independent of each other)

Yet the basis for point 3) - the inherent seperation of "what is" and "what ought to be" is just a philosophical assertion. Prof. Dawkins is very correct in stating that the belief in God and all other religious assertions should be treated and critically analysed as scientific hypotheses. However, strictly speaking this should go beyond the subject of religion to include every other field of human intellectual activity, including of course philosophy itself. If we treat the assertion "'what is' is fundamentally separate from 'what ought to be'" as a strict scientific hypothesis in the same sense that "God exists" is treated as such a hypothesis, then it has to be said that it is no more than just a blank assertion without any kind of empirical justification.

In other words, Prof. Dawkins is mistaken in assuming that his particular view of evolution and Darwinism does not leave us with an ethical dilemma, because it evidently does. The only argument Prof. Dawkins has offered against this is the mere assertion that "what ought to be" must be seperate from "what is", yet this assertion, just like religious assertions regarding God, cannot be scientifically or empirically proven.

5 out of 5 stars

Still great after all these years April 24, 2008
Despite being over 30 years old, this book is still a powerful and exciting account of how life, including humans, came to be. The examples and explanations (aphid & ant coexistence, fluke worms in snails) are breathtaking in their descriptions of the natural world, and could easily awaken an interest in zoology in the casual reader.

4 out of 5 stars

Love your genes! March 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I read this book about 10 years ago and it nearly ruined my life. It led me to reject virtually any fundamental goodness within myself (as given to me by my genes), purely because I considered it a `lie'. This wasn't Dawkins fault - his book is a good one - it was my own short sightedness. Don't fall into the same trap as I did.

When most of us self-observe, we look into a conditioned mind. We can't see beyond the myriad self-images that we've created of ourselves i.e. our ego(s). The original brain that you were born with was probably closer to `altruism' than you will ever see again. Our genes aren't stupid. They didn't get this far by actively seeking friction with other creatures; Dawkins' "memes" have caused the friction. As I remember, Dawkins uses memes at the end of the book as a rather weak "hey don't worry it's not all bad" type statement. Unfortunately, memes have thus far caused, more `selfishness' than the genes themselves.

I have an `unsuccessful' pay review with my boss. I get tense, stressed, angry and resent my boss. I come away feeling retched. Looking inside myself, it seems all this demanding must have been due to my selfish genes and their desire to preserve their existence. But taking the time to look a little deeper (which isn't easy), what I actually see is that my fundamental mind - as given to me by my genes - wants none of the situation. What it really wants is for me to not care a jot about money - it hates what I put it through for things it doesn't need.

Because it's so hard to see beyond our conditioning, much of the selfishness we see in ourselves is not a reflection of our genotype but of the dog-eat-dog world to which it has been subjected (aka. our phenotype). Human phenotypes nowadays have a level of `selfishness' many degrees beyond their pre-conditioned states. If you try to see beyond your conditioned self into what actually lies beneath, what you'll almost certainly find is that what your genotype craves more than anything is peace. And its needs for this are basic: food, water, love, sex, acceptable climate and I also suspect, in humans, the opportunity to express itself through creativity.

My point here is really that if, like me you're going to get all introspective, try to separate out what your genotype mind needs vs. what your phenotype (egoic mind) desires. It's tricky, but isn't it logical that our genes are more likely to be right about what our body requires for a happy life than the crazy world that we now live in? Once we start placing the needs of our genes first, the body and mind reach a previously unimaginable level of health, and can take on any challenge thrown up by this often blinded world.

1 out of 5 stars

Of historic interest only February 1, 2008
3 out of 37 found this review helpful

Perhaps it is appropriate that, with this 30th Anniversary edition, the views expressed by the author should be seen for what they truly are - well 30 years old and out of date compared with modern research.

If you want to read neo-darwinist propaganda, you'll find it here it bucket loads; recognise it for what it is, fiction.

The latest research in epi-genetics paints an entirely different picture; we are not the victims of our genes. Read The Biology of Belief if you want to read what is really going on.