The Selfish Gene

Humans only recently discovered their evolutionary roots. With his introduction, Dawkins addresses the question of people’s origins. People had no clue how to answer big questions—such as “What is man?”—until evolution provided answers:

Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence. If superior creatures from space ever visit earth, the first question they will ask, in order to assess the level of our civilization, is: 'Have they discovered evolution yet?' Living organisms had existed on earth, without ever knowing why, for over three thousand million years before the truth finally dawned on one of them. His name was Charles Darwin (9).

Evolution has been extensively proven through evidence. However, most people remain ignorant of its meaning. Even in universities, the lessons of Darwin are often ignored. Dawkins takes a close approach: “My purpose is to examine the biology of selfishness and altruism” (9). Numerous other authors have addressed the evolution of selfishness and altruism. However,

Dawkins writes that they erred in addressing group selection (evolution for the benefit of a species or other group). Instead, evolution principally operates on individuals’ genes.

Dawkins likens the modern view of biology to the phrase “red in tooth and claw” (2).