This sparkling collection explores the impact of Richard Dawkins as scientist, rationalist, and one of the most important thinkers alive today.
Specially commissioned pieces by leading figures in science, philosophy, literature, and the media, such as Daniel C. Dennett, Matt Ridley,
Steven Pinker, Philip Pullman, and the Bishop of Oxford, highlight the breadth and range of Dawkins' influence on modern science and culture, from the gene's eye view of evolution to his energetic engagement in public debates on science, rationalism, and religion. The volume includes personal
reminiscences and critical debate as well as accessible discussions of science - it provides a stimulating tribute to a remarkable intellectual.
Preface
BIOLOGY
Andrew F. Read: Ballooning Parrots and Semi-Lunar Germs
Helena Cronin: The Battle of the Sexes Revisited
John Krebs: Richard Dawkins: Intellectual Plumber-and More
Michael Hansell: What is a Puma?
THE SELFISH GENE
Marian Stamp Dawkins:
Living with The Selfish Gene
David Haig: The Gene Meme
Alan Grafen: The Intellectual Contribution of The Selfish Gene to Evolutionary Theory
Ullica Segerstråle: An Eye on the Core: Dawkins and Sociobiology
LOGIC
Daniel C. Dennett: The Selfish Gene as a Philosophical
Essay
Seth Bullock: The Invention of an Algorithmic Biology
David Deutsch: Selfish Genes and Information Flow
Steven Pinker: Deep Commonalities between Life and Mind
ANTIPHONAL VOICES
Michael Ruse: Richard Dawkins and the Problem of Progress
Patrick Bateson: The Nest's
Tale: Affectionate Disagreements with Richard Dawkins
Robert Aunger: What's the Matter with Memes?
HUMANS
Martin Daly and Margo Wilson: Selfish Genes and Family Relations
Randolph M. Nesse: Why a Lot of People with Selfish Genes Are Pretty Nice Except for their Hatred of The
Selfish Gene
Kim Sterelny: The Perverse Primate
CONTROVERSY
Michael Shermer: The Skeptic's Chaplain: Richard Dawkins as a Fountainhead of Skepticism
Richard Harries: A Fellow Humanist
A. C. Grayling: Dawkins and the Virus of Faith
Marek Kohn: The Politics and Ethics of
Richard Dawkins
David P. Barash: What the Whale Wondered: Evolution, Existentialism, and the Search for 'meaning'
WRITING
Matt Ridley: Richard Dawkins and the Golden Pen
Philip Pullman: Every Indication of Inadvertent Solicitude
Index
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Alan Grafen is Professor of Theoretical Biology in the Department of Zoology at Oxford. He is co-author of <i>Modern Statistics for the Life Sciences</i> (OUP, 2002) and numerous scientific papers.
Dr Mark Ridley lectures at the Department of Zoology at Oxford, and is best known as the
author of a number of books, including <i>Evolution</i> (Blackwell, 2e, 2003), <i>Evolution: A Reader</i> (OUP, 2e, 2003) and the critically acclaimed <i>Mendel's Demon</i> (Wiedenfeld, 2000).
