Items related to Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence
A vigorous and readable defense of Darwinism which leaps effortlessly from the primeval soup to long rows of taxonomy. Deep enough to be valuable to biologists, yet simple and well-written so as to appeal to a mass audience. Illustrated.
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Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's research shows that most scientists today are not formally religious, but Dawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
From the Back Cover:
I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence.
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins's second book, refers to the Rev. William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearances to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is the blind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: he doesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out for yourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the first artificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your own Mac or PC.
The watchmaker belongs to the eighteenth-century theologian William Paley, who made one of the most famous creationist arguments: Just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. It was Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery that put the lie to these arguments. But only Richard Dawkins could have written this eloquent riposte to the creationists. Natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind, yet essentially nonrandom process that Darwin discovered - has no purpose in mind. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker. Acclaimed as perhaps the most influential work on evolution written in this century, The Blind Watchmaker offers an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.
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- PublisherNorton* (Ww Norton Co
- Publication date1988
- ISBN 10 0393304485
- ISBN 13 9780393304480
- BindingPaperback
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Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence
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(1988)
ISBN 10: 0393304485
ISBN 13: 9780393304480
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Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence
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The Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
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The Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
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The Blind Watchmaker : Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
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Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W.
(1987)
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_383007287
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