Richard Dawkins Body and Soul/Life After Death

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  • Created by: Ella
  • Created on: 06-11-12 20:25

Dawkins

·         He is a materialist who believed that humans are ‘bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information’

·         There is no soul as we are the sum of our genes

·         Humans are merely carries of information and DNA

·         The only conceivable theory is that of evolution

·         We are the way we are due to our genetic make-up, not the efforts of the soul guiding us towards the realm of ideas

·         Each change is due to evolution

·         The soul does not continue, the DNA is the only thing that survives

·         DNA is the function of life

·         Dawkins didn’t deal with the soul but the consciousness

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Dawkins

Our genes work together because they have a desire to survive

· Our consciousness develops (act has bad results etc.)

· The genes creates the brain because it needs a central control

· There is a new replicator gene called a meme, this was created because now that the consciousness has evolved there is no need for replication

· The selfish gene – believes that genes work together as a machine

· Rejects any concept of an immortal soul

· “there is no spirit driven life force…life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information”

· His conclusion is that any evidence of “divine activity” is an illusion

· We are just carries of DNA

· Evolution is the only rational theory

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Dawkins

Evolution is the only rational theory

He is strongly against Plato’s view of the soul

Believes that myths and faiths are not supported by any evidence

Dawkins view that the soul is a mythological concept to explain consciousness

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