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Dawkins and the rejection of the soul

Dawkins and the rejection of the soul. LO: I will know why Richard Dawkins rejects the traditional idea of the soul. Demonstrate. Recap and evaluation. Which is most convincing? Plato or Aristotle’s view towards the soul? Discuss strengths and weaknesses

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Dawkins and the rejection of the soul

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  1. Dawkins and the rejection of the soul LO: I will know why Richard Dawkins rejects the traditional idea of the soul

  2. Demonstrate Recap and evaluation • Which is most convincing? Plato or Aristotle’s view towards the soul? Discuss strengths and weaknesses • Mention at least Descarte and Ryle (for Aristotle) and Geach (for Plato)

  3. Understanding Dawkins … • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVt5e2w32w

  4. The science of Memetics • ‘Dawkins recalls how he wanted a word for a “cultural replicator” that sounded like “gene” – thus stressing the analogy between cultural and genetic transmission – and came up with “meme” – an abbreviation of the term “mimeme,” derived from the Greek mimesis (“imitation”). The meme was proposed as a hypothetical replicator – “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation” – to explain the process of the development of culture within a Darwinian framework: Just as genes propagate [breed & spread] themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain by a process which, in the broad sense of the term, can be called imitation. As examples of what he has in mind, Dawkins points to such things as tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, fashions, aspects of architecture, songs – and God.’ McGrath, Dawkins’ God, p 122. NB: After some criticism, Dawkins revised his definition in 1982. Read chapter 4 of McGrath’s book for more info.

  5. Richard Dawkins Denis Noble 2 perspectives … ‘Genes swarm in huge colonies, safe inside gigantic lumbering robots, sealed off from the outside world, communicating with it by complex indirect routes, manipulating it by remote control. They are in you and me; they created us, body and mind; and their preservation is the ultimate reason for our existence.’ ‘Genes are trapped in huge colonies, locked inside highly intelligent beings, moulded by the outside world, communicating with it by complex processes, through which, blindly, as if by magic, function emerges. They are in you and me; we are the system that allows their code to be read; and their preservation is totally dependent on the joy that we experience in reproducing ourselves. We are the ultimate reason for their existence.’

  6. Dawkins on genes, the body and consciousness • Use handout. This can also be found in the Taylor textbook pg 249-251

  7. Active reading • Pg 92-93 of your A2 textbooks, explain the following • Soul as a mythological concept • Soul One and Soul Two • Dawkins on life after death

  8. For debate ‘I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.’ Richard Dawkins http://www.testoffaith.com/ - ‘Making Sense’ clip

  9. Plenary

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