Who is Richard Dawkins?
Richard Dawkins is a well-regarded evolutionary biologist, popular science writer, public intellectual, and more recently, one of the most outspoken contemporary advocates of atheism and secular thinking. Dawkins hard-hitting anti-religious style, typified by his 2006 book The God Delusion, has earned him both enthusiastic supporters and fervent enemies. Dawkins is one of several prominent authors, alongside Sam Harris and others, representing the so-called New Atheism movement, most apparent in the United States and United Kingdom. Dawkins has reached a new peak of fame with his advocacy of atheism, with many not familiar with his writings in biology being exposed to him for the first time. Many are not familiar with the fact that Dawkins has been a respected evolutionary biologist since the mid-70s. In 1976, Dawkins published his first book, The Selfish Gene, which promotes the gene-centric view of evolution, a perspective that emphasizes that organisms are essentially shells designe
He is a self-confessed materialist. He says in his own words paranormal is bunk i.e. it does not exist. He publicly stated that he does not believe in the afterlife. Now this R. Dawkins is expressing a personal view, not a scientific view, because he can never use science to show that the paranormal and the afterlife do not exist. He is into conjecture and speculation. Hes into subjectivity. Hes into debunking. Hes into demeaning, denigrating and sarcasm. Hes into personal beliefs in his argument because he never comes to empirically based conclusions. Further, because he is a self confessed materialist and has been actively anti-paranormal, he does not and cannot perceive empirical evidence for the paranormal with empirical equanimity. Hes deeply negatively prejudiced. His objectivity is negatively encumbered. And that is a huge problem for someone who keeps on saying he is a scientist. In fact this Dawkins believes the paranormal and the afterlife do not exist. Technically, that make
Richard Dawkins (see unofficial website here, or the introductory site from the BBC) has written several books which have made a major impact on the evolutionary biology scene. When Douglas Adams (author of the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) was asked about the book that changed his life, he said, “The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins”. Incidentally, the same book was a major influence in Henning Pauly’s life and his journey through the vast lands of Darwinism.
1613. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73 Comment #41381 by BillySands on May 16, 2007 at 3:41 am Bizzaro said: And yes, Liberty is fully accredited. I don’t see why you all have a problem with the school. Sure, it’s a Christian school but I fail to see what bearing this has on the acedemic aspect. Oh the juicy irony! Of course if it teaches young earth creationism, then that is an obvious problem. I’m reminded of the video, where a Liberty U physics professor asked Dawkins what evidence he would need to believe that dinosaur fossils were only a few thousand years old. Basic Radiochemistry for f**k sake!
