Richard Dawkins

2.1. Early life and background

Richard Dawkins was born Clinton Richard Dawkins on 26 March 1941, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule. He later legally dropped "Clinton" from his name due to confusion over using his middle name as his first name in the United States. His parents were Jean Mary Vyvyan (1916-2019) and Clinton John Dawkins (1915-2010). His father was an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi) and came from an Oxfordshire landed gentry family. During the Second World War, his father was called up into the King's African Rifles. The family returned to England in 1949 when Dawkins was eight years old. His father inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he then farmed commercially. Dawkins currently lives in Oxford, England. He also has a younger sister named Sarah.

His parents held a keen interest in the natural sciences and consistently answered young Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. Dawkins describes his childhood as a "normal Anglican upbringing." He initially embraced Christianity but began to question his beliefs around the age of nine. He was temporarily persuaded by the argument from design, which suggests a supernatural creator based on the complexity of nature, but by his mid-teens, he came to view Darwinism as a far superior explanation for life's complexity, leading him to abandon belief in God. He states that the realization that Darwinism fully explained complexity "pulled the rug out from under the argument of design," leaving him with no need for God. While identifying as a "cultural Christian" and a "cultural Anglican" due to his Western background, he clarifies that this description carries "absolutely no meaning as far as religious belief is concerned." He has also expressed nostalgia for the ceremonial aspects of religion despite his non-belief in its supernatural elements.

2.2. Education

Upon his family's arrival in England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins attended Chafyn Grove School in Wiltshire, where he later recounted an incident of molestation by a teacher. From 1954 to 1959, he was a student at Oundle School in Northamptonshire, a British public school with a Church of England ethos, where he resided in Laundimer House. During his time at Oundle, he first encountered Bertrand Russell's influential essay, Why I Am Not a Christian.

He pursued higher education at Balliol College, Oxford-the same institution his father had attended-where he studied zoology. He graduated in 1962 with a second-class degree, having been tutored by the Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen. Dawkins continued his studies under Tinbergen's supervision as a research student at Oxford, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree by 1966 and remaining as a research assistant for an additional year. Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly focusing on instinct, learning, and choice. Dawkins's doctoral research during this period concentrated on models of animal decision-making.

2.3. Academic career

From 1967 to 1969, Richard Dawkins served as an assistant professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. During this period, the campus environment was heavily influenced by the widespread opposition to the Vietnam War, and Dawkins actively participated in anti-war demonstrations and related activities. In 1970, he returned to Oxford University as a lecturer. He was appointed a reader in zoology in 1990.

In 1995, Dawkins was appointed to the Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. This position was specifically endowed by Charles Simonyi with the explicit intention that its holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field," and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins himself. He held this professorship until his retirement in 2008. Since 1970, he has been a fellow of New College, Oxford, and now holds the title of emeritus fellow.

Throughout his academic career, Dawkins delivered numerous distinguished lectures, including the Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture (1989), the inaugural Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the Michael Faraday Lecture (1991), the T. H. Huxley Memorial Lecture (1992), the Irvine Memorial Lecture (1997), the Sheldon Doyle Lecture (1999), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003). In 1991, he presented the highly regarded Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on the theme of Growing Up in the Universe.

Beyond his lecturing and teaching, Dawkins has actively engaged in scientific publishing. He has edited several academic journals and served as an editorial advisor for both the Encarta Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Evolution. He is also listed as a senior editor and columnist for the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine and has been a member of the editorial board for Skeptic magazine since its inception.

His involvement in the scientific community extended to judging panels for prestigious awards, such as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards. He also served as president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford, established the Dawkins Prize, which recognizes "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities."

Following his retirement from the Simonyi Professorship in September 2008, Dawkins announced his intention to write a book aimed at young readers, designed to caution them against believing in "anti-scientific" fairytales. In 2011, he joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London founded by A. C. Grayling, which opened its doors in September 2012. This institution was noted for its annual fees of 18.00 K GBP. Dawkins has announced that his final speaking tour will take place in the autumn of 2024.

3.1. Evolutionary biology

Richard Dawkins's foundational work in evolutionary biology centers on advocating and popularizing the gene as the primary unit of selection, a perspective that has shaped much of modern evolutionary thought.

3.2. Meme and cultural evolution

In his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins coined the word meme (/miːm/_MEEM^English), intended as a behavioral and cultural analogue to a gene. His purpose was to encourage readers to consider how Darwinian principles might extend beyond the realm of biological genes to explain aspects of culture. This concept was meant to be an extension of his broader "replicators" argument. However, the term and its underlying idea gained significant traction and were further developed by other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. This popularization eventually led to the emergence of memetics as a field of study, from which Dawkins himself has largely distanced himself, noting that the concept took on a life beyond his initial intention.

Dawkins's concept of a meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might regard as a replicator of a specific idea or set of ideas. He hypothesized that many cultural entities could be seen as capable of such replication, primarily through communication and interaction among humans, who, through evolution, have become efficient-though not perfect-copiers of information and behavior. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they can be refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas. This process results in new memes, which may prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors. This framework provides a hypothesis for cultural evolution that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.

While Dawkins is credited with coining the term meme, he has not claimed the idea was entirely novel. Similar concepts have been expressed in the past using different terminology. For example, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the German biologist Richard Semon, who, in 1904, proposed the concept of "mneme" (/ˈnɛmɛ/_NEM-eh^English). Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces, both conscious and subconscious, that could be inherited, although this view would be considered Lamarckian by modern biologists. Laurent also noted the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's 1926 book, The Life of the White Ant, where Maeterlinck explicitly stated he obtained the phrase from Semon's work. Despite these earlier formulations, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity."

In 2006, Dawkins established the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting scientific understanding and secular values. The RDFRS financed research into the psychology of belief and religion, supported scientific education programs and materials, and publicized and backed charitable organisations with a secular nature. In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation would merge with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.

3.3. Criticism of religion

Richard Dawkins has emerged as one of the most prominent and outspoken critics of religion, challenging the validity of faith and advocating for a purely rational, evidence-based worldview.

3.3.1. The God Delusion and atheism

Richard Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but he soon began to question his beliefs. He states that his developing understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilized world could remain seemingly uneducated in biology. He also expresses puzzlement as to how belief in God persists among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins observes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, a practice he believes causes confusion and misunderstanding among those who incorrectly assume they are referring to a mystical being capable of miracles like forgiving sins, transubstantiating wine, or resurrecting the dead.

Dawkins explicitly disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA), which posits that science and religion operate in separate domains of human inquiry. Instead, Dawkins contends that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other, subject to empirical investigation and falsification. He became a prominent critic of religion, articulating his opposition to religion on two main grounds: he sees religion as both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith-defined as belief not based on evidence-as "one of the world's great evils." He has criticized various specific religious beliefs as irrational, including that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect one, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the Moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead. He also does not believe in an afterlife.

On his spectrum of theistic probability, which ranges from 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) to 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins places himself at 6.9. This position signifies a "de facto atheist" who, while acknowledging that certainty is impossible, believes that God is "very improbable" and lives life "on the assumption that he is not there." When pressed on his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quipped, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden." Despite his strong atheistic stance, Dawkins has acknowledged a "cultural Christian" identity, expressing nostalgia for the ceremonial aspects of religion, though he emphasizes this has no bearing on his lack of religious belief.

Dawkins rose to significant public prominence in debates concerning science and religion following the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006. This book became an international bestseller, selling over three million copies by 2015 and translated into more than 30 languages. Its success has been widely seen as indicative of a shift in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and is often associated with the rise of New Atheism. In the book, Dawkins directly argues that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and defines religious faith as a "delusion"-specifically, "a fixed false belief." In his February 2002 TED talk titled "Militant atheism," Dawkins urged all atheists to openly declare their stance and actively resist the encroachment of religious influence into politics and science. On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, along with Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett-dubbed "The Four Horsemen" of New Atheism-met for a private, unmoderated two-hour discussion that was later videotaped.

Dawkins views education and consciousness-raising as the primary methods for combating what he perceives as religious dogma and indoctrination. He supports the adoption of the term bright to foster positive public associations with individuals who hold a naturalistic worldview. He has endorsed the concept of free-thinking schools that would prioritize teaching children to demand evidence, practice skepticism, and cultivate critical, open-minded thinking, rather than indoctrinating them into specific beliefs. Such schools, he suggests, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history." Inspired by the success of feminist movements in fostering widespread discomfort with gendered language, Dawkins similarly argues that terms like "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child," as he believes children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.

Dawkins's strong stance on religion has drawn both widespread support and significant criticism. Supporters, including writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker, and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg, have defended his positions and lauded his contributions. However, others, such as Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, academic Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came, and theologian Alister McGrath, have criticized Dawkins on various grounds. These critiques include the assertion that his work functions more as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism than a constructive critique, and that he has fundamentally misunderstood the theological foundations he purports to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have dismissed Dawkins's confrontational approach to religion as narrow and "embarrassing," with Higgs likening Dawkins's rhetoric to that of the very religious fundamentalists he criticizes. Atheist philosopher John Gray has characterized Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary" whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original." Gray suggests that Dawkins, "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, ... misses much that is of importance in human beings," and argues that for Dawkins, "science is an unquestioned view of the world," rather than a tentative method of inquiry as it was for Darwin. A 2016 study indicated that many British scientists held an unfavorable view of Dawkins and his confrontational attitude towards religion. In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better equipped than scientists to address profound cosmological questions, and he asserts that he is not a fundamentalist, emphasizing his willingness to alter his views in the face of new evidence.

Dawkins has also faced backlash over some of his public comments concerning Islam. In 2013, he tweeted that "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though." In 2016, his invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was rescinded after he shared what was described as a "highly offensive video" satirically depicting cartoon feminist and Islamist characters singing about their perceived commonalities. In sharing the tweet, Dawkins stated it "Obviously doesn't apply to vast majority of feminists, among whom I count myself. But the minority are pernicious."

3.3.2. Critique of creationism and intelligent design

Richard Dawkins is a prominent and unwavering critic of creationism, the religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity without recourse to evolution. He has unequivocally described the young Earth creationist view-that Earth is only a few thousand years old-as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood." His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, provides a sustained and detailed critique of the argument from design, a central argument in creationist thought. In this book, Dawkins directly refutes the watchmaker analogy, famously proposed by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley in his book Natural Theology. Paley argued that just as a watch, with its intricate complexity and functional purpose, could not have arisen by accident, so too must all living organisms, with their far greater complexity, have been purposefully designed by a supernatural creator. Dawkins, aligning with the general scientific consensus, asserts that natural selection is fully sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world. He posits that natural selection effectively acts as the "watchmaker" in nature, but crucially, it is an automatic, nonintelligent, and "blind" process, entirely unguided by any conscious designer.

In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against Young Earth creationist A. E. Wilder-Smith and Biblical Creation Society president Edgar Andrews. The motion, "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution," was ultimately defeated by a vote of 198 to 115. However, Dawkins has generally adhered to the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and has since refused to participate in formal debates with creationists. Gould argued that creationists "seek the oxygen of respectability" and that engaging with them publicly, even if victorious in argument, provides them with the recognition they desire. Dawkins reiterates that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins stated that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned the use of the word theory in this context, Dawkins explained that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening," drawing an analogy to a detective solving a murder: "The detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."

Dawkins has consistently opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, characterizing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one." He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler"-a reference to English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his vigorous defense of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of Truth in Science, a British organization that promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, describing their work as an "educational scandal." Dawkins plans to counteract their influence by subsidizing schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the provision of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that refute creationist claims.

3.4. Science popularization and other fields

Richard Dawkins, in his capacity as a professor for the public understanding of science, has significantly contributed to communicating complex scientific ideas to a broad audience and has been a notable critic of pseudoscience.

4.1. Rationalism and skepticism

Dawkins is profoundly committed to rationalism, skepticism, and the scientific method as indispensable tools for understanding the world and for combating misinformation. He believes that knowledge should be derived through reason and empirical evidence, not through faith or dogma. He posits that atheism is a natural extension of understanding evolution and that embracing a non-religious worldview is a sign of a healthy, independent mind. He has actively promoted public awareness campaigns to encourage atheists to openly identify, hoping to reduce negative public perceptions and demonstrate the prevalence of non-belief. His intellectual stance emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and the continuous questioning of claims that lack empirical support, whether in science, medicine, or social discourse.

4.2. Views on postmodernism

In 1998, Richard Dawkins articulated his views on postmodernism in a book review published in the journal Nature. He expressed strong appreciation for two books that critically examined postmodern thought: Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt, and Intellectual Impostures by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books gained notoriety for their critiques of postmodernism as it manifested in U.S. universities, particularly within departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies.

Echoing many critics, Dawkins contends that postmodernism frequently employs obscurantist and impenetrable language to conceal a fundamental lack of meaningful content. As an illustration, he cites a passage from the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari: "We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis." Dawkins argues that such convoluted language is a deliberate strategy employed by certain intellectuals to advance their academic careers. He suggests that figures like Guattari or Jacques Lacan-who, in Dawkins's view, have little substantive to say-cultivate an opaque literary style to achieve reputation and fame, as "clarity would expose [their] lack of content."

In 2024, Dawkins co-authored an op-ed in The Boston Globe with Alan Sokal, extending his critique to contemporary issues regarding language and scientific accuracy. They specifically criticized the use of the terminology "sex assigned at birth" instead of simply "sex" by leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dawkins and Sokal argued that sex is an "objective biological reality" that "is determined at conception and is then observed at birth," rather than being assigned by a medical professional. They labeled this phenomenon "social constructionism gone amok," contending that "distort[ing] the scientific facts in the service of a social cause" carries the risk of undermining public trust in medical institutions.

4.3. Political and social stances

Richard Dawkins is an outspoken atheist and a fervent supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanist organizations, including Humanists UK and the Brights movement. He maintains that atheists should embrace their stance with pride rather than apology, viewing atheism as an indicator of a healthy and independent mind. He advocates that the more atheists publicly identify themselves, the more public perception will shift, thereby reducing negative stereotypes associated with non-belief. Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign, which seeks to encourage atheists worldwide to publicly declare their position. He also supported the UK's Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008 and 2009, an initiative to place atheist advertisements on buses in London.

Dawkins has expressed significant concern about human overpopulation and population growth. In The Selfish Gene, he briefly noted the rapid population doubling in Latin America at the time. He is highly critical of the Roman Catholic stance on family planning and population control, particularly their prohibition of contraception. He argues that leaders who advocate for "natural" methods of population limitation will inevitably see such methods manifest in the form of starvation.

As a supporter of the Great Ape Project-a movement advocating for the extension of certain moral and legal rights to all great apes-Dawkins contributed an essay titled 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book, edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticizes contemporary society's moral attitudes as being founded on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative."

Dawkins frequently contributes commentary on contemporary political questions in newspapers and blogs, being a regular writer for the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily. His political opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the British nuclear deterrent, the policies of then-US President George W. Bush, and the ethical implications of designer babies. Many of these articles were compiled in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology addressing science, religion, and politics. He also supports Republic, a campaign advocating for the replacement of the British monarchy with a democratic republic. Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s and has since voted for the Liberal Democrats since the party's establishment. In 2009, he spoke at the Liberal Democrats' conference, voicing opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. He officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats in both the 2010 and 2017 UK general elections, citing their commitment to electoral reform and their "refusal to pander to 'faith'".

8.1. Selected publications

His most notable books are listed below in chronological order:

• The Selfish Gene (1976)
• The Extended Phenotype (1982)
• The Blind Watchmaker (1986)
• River Out of Eden (1995)
• Climbing Mount Improbable (1996)
• Unweaving the Rainbow (1998)
• A Devil's Chaplain (2003)
• The Ancestor's Tale (2004)
• The God Delusion (2006)
• The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing (editor) (2008)
• The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (2009)
• The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True (2011)
• An Appetite for Wonder (First volume of his memoirs) (2013)
• Brief Candle in the Dark (Second volume of his memoirs) (2015)
• Science in the Soul (2017)
• Outgrowing God: A Beginner's Guide (2019)
• Books Do Furnish a Life (2021)
• Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution (2021)
• The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie (2024)

8.2. Documentary films

• Nice Guys Finish First (1986)
• The Blind Watchmaker (1987)
• Growing Up in the Universe (1991)
• Break the Science Barrier (1996)
• The Atheism Tapes (2004)
• The Big Question (Part 3, "Why Are We Here?") (2005)
• The Root of All Evil? (2006)
• The Enemies of Reason (2007)
• The Genius of Charles Darwin (2008)
• Faith School Menace? (2010)
• Beautiful Minds (BBC4 documentary) (April 2012)
• Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life (2012)
• The Unbelievers (2013)
• When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow (2015)

8.3. Other media appearances

Dawkins has frequently appeared on television and radio, providing his political opinions and, more often, his views as an atheist, and discussing his books. He has also engaged in debates with numerous religious figures and given many university lectures, frequently in conjunction with his book tours. He has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself.

• Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008): Appeared as himself, portrayed as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that argues the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who see evidence of intelligent design.
• Doctor Who: "The Stolen Earth" (2008): Appeared as himself.
• Inside Nature's Giants (2009-2012): Appeared as a guest expert.
• The Simpsons: "Black Eyed, Please" (2013): Provided the voice for a demon version of himself in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell.
• Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015): Featured as a guest star on this album by the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. He provided narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful," which opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth," inspired by and named after his book, in which he quotes from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He later performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; this concert was subsequently released as part of the live album/DVD Vehicle of Spirit.
• Intersect (2020): Provided the voice of "Q42/Computer" in this American thriller film.