PHILOS 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Universal Darwinism, East Los Angeles College, Richard Dawkins
Document Summary
Anything that appears to have a maker has a maker. Stone vs watch we happen to have stones because of natural forces, whereas watches are made, the idea comes before the existence of the thing. Paley"s argument is made with passionate sincerity and is informed by the best biological scholarship of his day, but it is wrong, gloriously and utterly wrong. Darwin"s idea: if creatures vary and if there is a struggle for life, then there would be some variation in structure or habits that occur to make these beings survive. The principle of preservation if you have something that increases productivity or allows offspring to reproduce, you"d want to preserve that thing because it is useful. Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. - dobzhansky. Darwin"s idea has no special place for humans. Genes are selfish, if they can get copied they will.
