The Selfish Gene Themes

The Selfish Gene offers an account of evolution from the perspective of genes. Darwinian evolution (as defined in Charles Darwin’s 1859 book On the Origin of the Species) claims that life on earth evolved from simpler organisms through natural selection. According to Darwin, natural selection favors organisms that are slightly better adapted to their natural environment, and therefore more likely to survive and reproduce, which results in those organisms passing on their traits…

One of Dawkins’ central motivations in The Selfish Gene is “to understand the biology of selfishness and altruism.” Some animals sacrifice themselves so that other animals in their species can survive. There is also apparent evidence of cooperation in nature, both between species and between genes. Dawkins argues, however, that when these behaviors are looked at from a genetic perspective, they only appear to be altruistic, and that cooperation only occurs when there is an…

In the “epilogue” to his second edition of The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins claims his argument—that genes, and not organisms evolve—is still true even if there’s no agreement about what bits of biological material exactly comprise a “gene.” In fact, Dawkins claims that his account explains evolutionary processes regardless of what thing is evolving, whether these things are “genes” or something else. Ultimately, Dawkins says that his argument is more about “replicators”…