View source for Biography:Richard Dawkins

{{Short description|English evolutionary biologist and author (born 1941)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Richard Dawkins
| honorific_suffix  = {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSL|size=100%}}
| image             = Dinner with Richard Dawkins and CFI... like a candle in the dark.jpg
| caption           = Dawkins in 2022
| birth_name        = Clinton Richard Dawkins
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1941|3|26|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], British Kenya
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| education         = Oundle School
| alma_mater        = [[Organization:Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College, Oxford]] (MA, [[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|DPhil]])
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Biography:Nikolaas Tinbergen|Nikolaas Tinbergen]]
| thesis_title      = Selective pecking in the domestic chick
| thesis_url        = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.710826
| thesis_year       = 1967
| workplaces        = {{ubl|[[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]]|[[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]]|New College of the Humanities}}
| known_for         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Biology:Gene-centered view of evolution|Gene-centred view of evolution]]
* Concept of the [[Philosophy:Meme|meme]]
* [[Philosophy:Middle World|Middle World]]
* Extended phenotype
* Advocacy of science; [[Religion:Criticism of religion|criticism of religion]]; "[[Philosophy:New Atheism|New Atheism]]"<ref>{{Cite IEP |url-id=n-atheis |title=The New Atheists |first=James E. |last=Taylor}}</ref>}}
| spouse            = {{ubl|{{marriage|[[Biography:Marian Dawkins|Marian Stamp]]|19 August 1967|1984|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Eve Barham|1984|end=div.}}|{{marriage|Lalla Ward|1992|2016|end={{abbrlink|sep.|Legal separation|separated}}}}}}
| children          = 1
| awards            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Organization:Zoological Society of London|ZSL]] [[Organization:Silver Medal (Zoological Society of London)|Silver Medal]] (1989)
* Michael Faraday Prize (1990)
* International Cosmos Prize (1997)
* Nierenberg Prize (2009)
* FRS (2001)<ref name=frs>{{cite web |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-dawkins-11316/ |publisher=Royal Society |location=London |title=Richard Dawkins |access-date=23 April 2016 |archive-date=10 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310184352/https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-dawkins-11316/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| signature         = Richard Dawkins signature.svg
| website           = {{URL|https://richarddawkins.com}}
| module            = {{Listen| embed=yes | filename = Audio Richard Dawkins.wav | pos=center |title = Richard Dawkins introduces himself. (Recorded November, 2016.) |}}
}}
'''Richard Dawkins''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSL}} (born 26 March 1941)<ref name="deed poll">{{cite AV media|author=Tortoise |title=OMG – A ThinkIn with Richard Dawkins |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5WxptJwL0Q?t=128 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/o5WxptJwL0Q| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|website=YouTube |access-date=31 January 2020|time=2:08|date=2 December 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> is a British [[Biology:Evolutionary biology|evolutionary biologist]] and author. He is an emeritus fellow of [[Organization:New College, Oxford|New College, Oxford]], and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the [[Organization:University of Oxford|University of Oxford]] from 1995 to 2008. His 1976 book ''[[Biology:The Selfish Gene|The Selfish Gene]]'' popularised the gene-centred view of evolution, as well as coining the term ''[[Philosophy:Meme|meme]]''. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and into the Limelight |last=Fahy |first=Declan |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2015 }}</ref>

Dawkins is well known for his criticism of [[Philosophy:Creationism|creationism]] and [[Unsolved:Intelligent design|intelligent design]] as well as for being a vocal [[Philosophy:Atheism|atheist]]<!-- Please do not change this to 'agnostic' without first consulting the "atheist-consensus" as established on the talk page and its archives. -->.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/richard-dawkins-atheism-criticism-atheist-study-rice-university-science-scientists-a7389396.html |title=British scientists don't like Richard Dawkins, finds study that didn't even ask questions about Richard Dawkins |website=Independent.co.uk |date=18 January 2017 |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609003903/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/richard-dawkins-atheism-criticism-atheist-study-rice-university-science-scientists-a7389396.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Dawkins wrote ''The Blind Watchmaker'' in 1986, arguing against the [[Philosophy:Watchmaker analogy|watchmaker analogy]], an argument for the existence of a [[Religion:Creator deity|supernatural creator]] based upon the [[Biology:Evolution of biological complexity|complexity of living organisms]]. Instead, he describes evolutionary processes as analogous to a ''blind'' watchmaker, in that [[Biology:Reproduction|reproduction]], [[Biology:Mutation|mutation]], and [[Biology:Natural selection|selection]] are unguided by any sentient designer. In 2006, Dawkins published ''[[Philosophy:The God Delusion|The God Delusion]]'', writing that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a [[Medicine:Delusion|delusion]]. He founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Is Richard Dawkins destroying his reputation?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/09/is-richard-dawkins-destroying-his-reputation|newspaper=The Guardian|last=Elmhirst|first=Sophie|date=9 June 2015}}(Op-ed)</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Richard Dawkins on Charles Darwin|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7885670.stm|website=BBC News|date=14 February 2009}}</ref> Dawkins has published two volumes of memoirs, ''An Appetite for Wonder'' (2013) and ''Brief Candle in the Dark'' (2015).

== Background ==

=== Early life ===
Dawkins was born '''Clinton Richard Dawkins''' on 26 March 1941 in [[Place:Nairobi|Nairobi]], the capital of Kenya during British colonial rule.<ref name="encycdotcom">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3449200042/dawkins-richard-1941.html |title=Dawkins, Richard 1941– Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |publisher=Cengage Learning |access-date=16 May 2014 |archive-date=12 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012161749/http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3449200042/dawkins-richard-1941.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He later dropped ''Clinton'' from his name by deed poll.<ref name="deed poll"/> He is the son of Jean Mary Vyvyan (''née'' Ladner; 1916–2019)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |title=My mother is 100 today. She & my late father gave me an idyllic childhood. Her writings on that time are quoted in An Appetite for Wonder |url=https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/802104552195506178 |website=Twitter |access-date=26 November 2016 |archive-date=17 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617112151/https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/802104552195506178 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |title=My beloved mother died today, a month short of her 103rd birthday. As a young wartime bride she was brave and adventurous. Her epic journey up Africa, illegally accompanying my father, is recounted in passages from her diary, reproduced in An Appetite for Wonder. Rest in Peace. |url=https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1183908617541562369 |website=Twitter |access-date=15 October 2019 |archive-date=15 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015025639/https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1183908617541562369 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Clinton John Dawkins (1915–2010), an agricultural civil servant in the British Colonial Service in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi), of an Oxfordshire landed gentry family.<ref name="encycdotcom" /><ref>Burke's Landed Gentry 17th edition, ed. L. G. Pine, 1952, 'Dawkins of Over Norton' pedigree</ref><ref name="father's obit"/> His father was called up into the King's African Rifles during the Second World War<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=The Ancestor's Tale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tub-X6wydKgC |year=2004 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-00583-3 |page=317 |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013348/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tub-X6wydKgC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Brief Scientific Autobiography">{{cite web |url=http://richarddawkins.net/articles/4757-brief-scientific-autobiography |title=Brief Scientific Autobiography |access-date=17 July 2010 |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621114947/http://richarddawkins.net/articles/4757-brief-scientific-autobiography |archive-date=21 June 2010}}</ref> and returned to England in 1949, when Dawkins was eight. His father had inherited a country estate, Over Norton Park in Oxfordshire, which he farmed commercially.<ref name="father's obit">{{Cite news |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=Lives Remembered: John Dawkins |newspaper=The Independent |date=11 December 2010 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lives-remembered-john-dawkins-2157459.html |access-date=12 December 2010 |location=London |archive-date=13 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213080623/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lives-remembered-john-dawkins-2157459.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins lives in Oxford, England.<ref name="strident">{{cite news |title=Richard Dawkins: 'I don't think I am strident or aggressive' |first=Andrew |last=Anthony |date=15 September 2013 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/15/richard-dawkins-interview-appetite-wonder |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=21 September 2014 |archive-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529212022/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/15/richard-dawkins-interview-appetite-wonder |url-status=live }}</ref> He has a younger sister, Sarah.<ref name="Darwin's child"/>

His parents were interested in [[Natural science|natural science]]s, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1595744.stm |title=Richard Dawkins: The foibles of faith |access-date=13 March 2008 |date=12 October 2001 |work=BBC News |archive-date=19 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619035204/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1595744.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pollard |first=Nick |title=High Profile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17rzvh_Ve0IC |volume=18 |date=April 1995 |page=15 |issn=0309-3492 |issue=3 |journal=Third Way |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013222/https://books.google.com/books?id=17rzvh_Ve0IC |url-status=live }}</ref> He embraced [[Religion:Christianity|Christianity]] until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the [[Biology:Extended evolutionary synthesis|theory of evolution]] alone was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god.<ref name="Darwin's child">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/10/religion.scienceandnature |last=Hattenstone |first=Simon |title=Darwin's child |access-date=22 April 2008 |date=10 February 2003 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=24 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724001426/https://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/scienceandnature/story/0,6000,892495,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing."<ref name="Darwin's child"/> This understanding of atheism combined with his western cultural background, informs Dawkins as he describes himself in several interviews as a "[[Religion:Cultural Christians|cultural Christian]]" and a "cultural Anglican".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7136682.stm |title=Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian |access-date=1 March 2008 |date=10 December 2007 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/qanda-with-richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian/Content?oid=4581071 |title=Q&A with Richard Dawkins: 'I guess I'm a cultural Christian' |access-date=4 March 2013 |date=4 March 2013 |publisher=Charleston City Paper |archive-date=7 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307014227/http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/qanda-with-richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian/Content?oid=4581071 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/richard-dawkins-i-guess-im-a-cultural-christian-91312/|title=Richard Dawkins: I Guess I'm a Cultural Christian |access-date=5 March 2013 |date=4 March 2013 |work=The Christian Post}}</ref>

=== Education ===
[[File:Oundlegreathall.jpg|thumb|left|The Great Hall, Oundle School]]
On his return to England from Nyasaland in 1949, at the age of eight, Dawkins joined Chafyn Grove School, in Wiltshire,<ref>Alister E. McGrath, ''Dawkins' God: From The Selfish Gene to The God Delusion'' (2015), p. 33</ref> and after that from 1954 to 1959 attended Oundle School in Northamptonshire, an English public school with a Church of England ethos,<ref name="Darwin's child"/> where he was in Laundimer House.<ref name="Oundle2012b">{{cite web |ref=CITEREFOundle2012b |url=http://www.oundleschool.org.uk./extracurric/lectures.php |title=The Oundle Lecture Series |publisher=Oundle School |year=2012b |access-date=12 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430063443/http://www.oundleschool.org.uk/extracurric/lectures.php |archive-date=30 April 2012}}</ref> While at Oundle, Dawkins read [[Biography:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]]'s ''[[Philosophy:Why I Am Not a Christian|Why I Am Not a Christian]]'' for the first time.{{sfn|Dawkins|2015|p=175}} He studied [[Biology:Zoology|zoology]] at [[Organization:Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College, Oxford]], graduating in 1962; while there, he was tutored by Nobel Prize-winning ethologist [[Biography:Nikolaas Tinbergen|Nikolaas Tinbergen]]. He graduated with upper-second class honours.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3657215/Preaching-to-the-converted.html |title=Preaching to the converted |journal=Daily Telegraph |last=Preston |first=John |date=17 December 2006 |access-date=9 May 2019 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=9 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509210248/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3657215/Preaching-to-the-converted.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins continued as a research student under Tinbergen's supervision, receiving his [[Social:Doctor of Philosophy|Doctor of Philosophy]]<ref name=dawkins>{{cite thesis |degree=DPhil |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=Selective pecking in the domestic chick |publisher=University of Oxford |date=1966 |url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:LSCOP_OX:oxfaleph020515491 |website=bodleian.ox.ac.uk |access-date=8 November 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060816/http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=SOLO&docid=oxfaleph020515491&context=L&search_scope=LSCOP_OX |url-status=live }} {{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.710826}}</ref> degree by 1966, and remained a research assistant for another year.<ref name="cv">{{cite web |url=http://www.fontem.com/archivos/usuarios/cv_521.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103225115/http://www.fontem.com/archivos/usuarios/cv_521.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 November 2012 |title=Curriculum vitae |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |date=1 January 2006 |access-date=13 March 2008 |ref=none}}</ref><ref name="cv2">{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/CV.shtml |title=Richard Dawkins: CV |date=1 January 2006 |access-date=1 March 2007 |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423211133/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/CV.shtml |archive-date=23 April 2008 |ref=none}} For direct link to media, see [https://web.archive.org/web/20070225195322/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/CV.pdf this link]</ref> Tinbergen was a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour, particularly in the areas of [[Biology:Instinct|instinct]], learning, and choice;<ref name="Shrage">{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Schrage |title=Revolutionary Evolutionist |date=July 1995 |url=https://www.wired.com/1995/07/dawkins/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=21 April 2008 |archive-date=29 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429065556/http://www.wired.com/1995/07/dawkins/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins's research in this period concerned models of animal decision-making.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=A threshold model of choice behaviour |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=17 |year=1969 |doi=10.1016/0003-3472(69)90120-1 |pages=120–133 |issue=1}}</ref> 

=== Teaching ===

From 1967 to 1969, Dawkins was an assistant professor of zoology at the [[Organization:University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkeley]]. During this period, the students and faculty at UC Berkeley were largely opposed to the ongoing Vietnam War, and Dawkins became involved in the anti-war demonstrations and activities.<ref name="belief interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/people/dawkins.shtml |title="Belief" interview |access-date=8 April 2008 |date=5 April 2004 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=29 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329090942/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/people/dawkins.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> He returned to the University of Oxford in 1970 as a lecturer. In 1990, he became a [[Social:Reader (academic rank)|reader]] in zoology. In 1995, he was appointed Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position that had been endowed by [[Biography:Charles Simonyi|Charles Simonyi]] with the express intention that the holder "be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims/charles-simonyis-manifesto.html |title=Manifesto for the Simonyi Professorship |access-date=13 March 2008 |last=Simonyi |first=Charles |date=15 May 1995 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205051240/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims/charles-simonyis-manifesto.html |archive-date=5 February 2016}}</ref> and that its first holder should be Richard Dawkins.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims.html |title=Aims of the Simonyi Professorship |date=23 April 2008 |access-date=28 June 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206202718/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/aims.html |archive-date=6 February 2016}}</ref> He held that professorship from 1995 until 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship.html |title=Previous holders of The Simonyi Professorship |access-date=23 September 2010 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131193825/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship.html |archive-date=31 January 2016}}</ref>

Since 1970, he has been a fellow of [[Organization:New College, Oxford|New College, Oxford]], and he is now an [[Social:Emeritus|emeritus]] fellow.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/emeritus-honorary-and-wykeham-fellows |title=Emeritus, Honorary and Wykeham Fellows |date=2 May 2008 |access-date=20 January 2016 |publisher=[[Organization:New College, Oxford|New College, Oxford]] |archive-date=10 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510045539/http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/Teaching_and_Research/Staff_Profile_Page.php?staffId=15 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship/professor-richard-dawkins.html |title=The Current Simonyi Professor: Richard Dawkins |access-date=13 March 2008 |publisher=The University of Oxford |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311205030/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/previous-holders-simonyi-professorship/professor-richard-dawkins.html |archive-date=11 March 2016}}</ref> He has delivered many lectures, including the [[Biography:Henry Sidgwick|Henry Sidgwick]] Memorial Lecture (1989), the first Erasmus Darwin Memorial Lecture (1990), the [[Biography:Michael Faraday|Michael Faraday]] Lecture (1991), the [[Biography:Thomas Henry Huxley|T. H. Huxley]] Memorial Lecture (1992), the [[Biography:James Irvine (chemist)|Irvine]] Memorial Lecture (1997), the Tinbergen Lecture (2004), and the Tanner Lectures (2003).<ref name=cv/> In 1991, he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children on ''[[Biology:Growing Up in the Universe|Growing Up in the Universe]]''. He also has edited several journals and has acted as an editorial advisor to the ''Encarta Encyclopedia'' and the ''[[Biology:Encyclopedia of Evolution|Encyclopedia of Evolution]]''. He is listed as a senior editor and a columnist of the Council for Secular Humanism's ''Free Inquiry'' magazine and has been a member of the editorial board of ''[[Religion:Skeptic (U.S. magazine)|Skeptic]]'' magazine since its foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/editorial_board.html |title=Editorial Board |access-date=22 April 2008 |publisher=The Skeptics' Society |archive-date=10 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410145522/http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/editorial_board.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins has sat on judging panels for awards as diverse as the Royal Society's Faraday Award and the British Academy Television Awards,<ref name="cv" /> and has been president of the Biological Sciences section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2004, [[Organization:Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol College, Oxford]], instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for "outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/miscellany/dawkins/index.asp |title=The Dawkins Prize for Animal Conservation and Welfare |access-date=30 March 2008 |date=9 November 2007 |publisher=Balliol College, Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912192317/http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/official/miscellany/dawkins/index.asp |archive-date=12 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, announcing plans to "write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in 'anti-scientific' fairytales."<ref name="telegraph2008">{{cite news |title=Harry Potter fails to cast spell over Professor Richard Dawkins |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3255972/Harry-Potter-fails-to-cast-spell-over-Professor-Richard-Dawkins.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=1 November 2008 |author1=Beckford, Martin |author2=Khan, Urmee |name-list-style=amp |location=London |date=24 October 2008 |archive-date=4 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104032214/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3255972/Harry-Potter-fails-to-cast-spell-over-Professor-Richard-Dawkins.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2011, Dawkins joined the professoriate of the New College of the Humanities, a private university in London established by [[Biography:A. C. Grayling|A. C. Grayling]], which opened in September 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8557555/New-university-to-rival-Oxbridge-will-charge-18000-a-year.html |title=New university to rival Oxbridge will charge £18,000 a year |date=5 June 2011 |access-date=20 January 2016 |work=Sunday Telegraph |archive-date=29 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429113425/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8557555/New-university-to-rival-Oxbridge-will-charge-18000-a-year.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Work ==

===Evolutionary biology===
[[File:Dawkins at UT Austin.jpg|thumb|upright|At the [[Organization:University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas at Austin]], March 2008]]

Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the [[Biology:Gene|gene]] as the principal [[Biology:Unit of selection|unit of selection]] in [[Biology:Evolution|evolution]]; this view is most clearly set out in two of his books:<ref>{{cite book |title=Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think: Reflections by Scientists, Writers, and Philosophers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lH4sh2436rEC&q=%22evolutionary+biologist%22 |year=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-921466-2 |page=228 |first1=Mark |last1=Ridley |access-date=27 January 2016 |archive-date=19 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319065837/http://books.google.com/books?id=lH4sh2436rEC&q=%22evolutionary+biologist%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lloyd |first=Elisabeth Anne |title=The structure and confirmation of evolutionary theory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hO8vHTSiBkAC |year=1994 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00046-6 |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013222/https://books.google.com/books?id=hO8vHTSiBkAC |url-status=live }}</ref>

* ''[[Biology:The Selfish Gene|The Selfish Gene]]'' (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities."
* ''[[Biology:The Extended Phenotype|The Extended Phenotype]]'' (1982), in which he describes [[Biology:Natural selection|natural selection]] as "the process whereby [[Biology:DNA replication|replicators]] out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |title=Replicator Selection and the Extended Phenotype |journal=Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie |date=1978 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=61–76 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1978.tb01823.x |pmid=696023}}</ref> that the [[Biology:Phenotype|phenotypic]] effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered [[Biology:Niche construction|niche construction]] to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.<ref name="esf">{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090119081333.htm |title=European Evolutionary Biologists Rally Behind Richard Dawkins' Extended Phenotype |publisher=Sciencedaily.com |date=20 January 2009 |access-date=28 June 2011 |archive-date=13 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213083316/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090119081333.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins has consistently been sceptical<!-- PLEASE NOTE: 'sceptical' is the correct British spelling, and Dawkins is British --> about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as [[Biology:Spandrel|spandrels]], described by [[Biography:Stephen Jay Gould|Gould]] and [[Biography:Richard Lewontin|Lewontin]])<ref name="gould-lewontin">{{cite journal |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |author2=Lewontin, Richard C. |year=1979 |title=The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London |volume=205 |issue=1161 |series=B |pages=581–598 |doi=10.1098/rspb.1979.0086 |pmid=42062 |bibcode=1979RSPSB.205..581G|s2cid=2129408 }}</ref> and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene.<ref name=Extended_Phenotype>{{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The extended phenotype: the long reach of the gene |url=https://archive.org/details/extendedphenotyp0000dawk |url-access=registration |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0192880512 |edition=Revised with new afterword and further reading}}</ref> He is particularly <!-- PLEASE NOTE: 'sceptical' is the correct British spelling, and Dawkins is British -->sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of [[Biology:Group selection|group selection]] as a basis for understanding [[Philosophy:Altruism|altruism]].{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|pp=169–172}}

Altruism appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own chances for survival, or [[Biology:Fitness|"fitness"]]. Previously, many had interpreted altruism as an aspect of group selection, suggesting that individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist [[Biography:W. D. Hamilton|W. D. Hamilton]] used gene-frequency analysis in his [[Biology:Inclusive fitness|inclusive fitness]] theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism, including close relatives.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hamilton |first=W.D. |title=The genetical evolution of social behaviour I and II |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–16, 17–52 |year=1964 |doi=10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4 |pmid=5875341|bibcode=1964JThBi...7....1H |s2cid=5310280 }}</ref>{{Ref label|a|a|none}} Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, [[Biography:Robert Trivers|Robert Trivers]], thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of [[Philosophy:Reciprocal altruism|reciprocal altruism]], whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Trivers |first=Robert |title=The evolution of reciprocal altruism |journal=Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=35–57 |year=1971 |doi=10.1086/406755 |s2cid=19027999 }}</ref> Dawkins popularised these ideas in ''The Selfish Gene'', and developed them in his own work.<ref name="dawkins79">{{cite journal |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=Twelve Misunderstandings of Kin Selection |journal=Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie |volume=51 |pages=184–200 |year=1979 |issue=2 |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/writings/Twelve%20Misunderstandings%20of%20Kin%20Selection.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529180009/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/writings/Twelve%20Misunderstandings%20of%20Kin%20Selection.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2008 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0310.1979.tb00682.x}}</ref>

In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist [[Biography:E. O. Wilson|E. O. Wilson]]'s 2012 book ''The Social Conquest of Earth'' as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |title=Richard Dawkins in furious row with EO Wilson over theory of evolution. Book review sparks war of words between grand old man of biology and Oxford's most high-profile Darwinist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/24/battle-of-the-professors |access-date=3 October 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 June 2012 |location=London |archive-date=6 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506014702/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/24/battle-of-the-professors |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dawkins |first1=Richard |title=The Descent of Edward Wilson |url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/edward-wilson-social-conquest-earth-evolutionary-errors-origin-species |access-date=24 October 2015 |work=Prospect |date=24 May 2012 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924105332/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/edward-wilson-social-conquest-earth-evolutionary-errors-origin-species |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the [[Astronomy:Gaia hypothesis|Gaia hypothesis]] of the independent scientist [[Biography:James Lovelock|James Lovelock]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The molecular biology of Gaia |url=https://archive.org/details/molecularbiology0000will |url-access=registration |year=1996 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-10512-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/molecularbiology0000will/page/178 178] |first1=George Ronald |last1=Williams}} [https://archive.org/details/molecularbiology0000will/page/178 Extract of page 178]</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Scientists debate gaia: the next century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOi1Cyj9h1UC |year=2004 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-19498-3 |page=72 |first1=Stephen Henry |last1=Schneider |access-date=27 January 2016 |archive-date=29 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729013112/https://books.google.com/books?id=TOi1Cyj9h1UC |url-status=live }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=TOi1Cyj9h1UC&pg=PA72 Extract of p. 72] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319005453/http://books.google.com/books?id=TOi1Cyj9h1UC&pg=PA72 |date=19 March 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZudTchiioUoC |year=2000 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-05673-6 |page=223 |first1=Richard |last1=Dawkins |bibcode=1998ursd.book.....D |access-date=27 January 2016 |archive-date=21 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921122549/http://books.google.com/books?id=ZudTchiioUoC |url-status=live }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZudTchiioUoC&pg=PA223 Extract of p. 223] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319064040/http://books.google.com/books?id=ZudTchiioUoC&pg=PA223 |date=19 March 2015 }}</ref>

Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the [[Biology:Gene|gene]] as the unit of ''selection'' (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of ''evolution'' (the long-term changes in [[Biology:Allele|allele]] frequencies in a population).<ref>{{cite book |last=Dover |first=Gabriel |title=Dear Mr Darwin |year=2000 |publisher=London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson |isbn=978-0-7538-1127-6}}</ref> In ''The Selfish Gene'', Dawkins explains that he is using [[Biography:George C. Williams (biologist)|George C. Williams]]'s definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency".<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=George C. |title=Adaptation and Natural Selection |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWZEq87CqO0C |year=1966 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=New Jersey |isbn=978-0-691-02615-2 |access-date=20 May 2020 |archive-date=23 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013348/https://books.google.com/books?id=wWZEq87CqO0C |url-status=live }}</ref> Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit".<ref>{{cite book |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |title=What Evolution Is |year=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-04426-9}}</ref> In ''The Extended Phenotype'', Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.

Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as [[Biography:Richard Lewontin|Richard Lewontin]], David Sloan Wilson, and [[Biography:Elliott Sober|Elliott Sober]]) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher [[Biography:Mary Midgley|Mary Midgley]], with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning ''The Selfish Gene'',<ref>{{Cite news |last=Midgley |first=Mary |year=1979 |title=Gene-Juggling |periodical=Philosophy |volume=54 |issue=210 |pages=439–458 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3520652 |doi=10.1017/S0031819100063488 |access-date=18 March 2008 |archive-date=31 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731184320/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3520652 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |year=1981 |title=In Defence of Selfish Genes |periodical=Philosophy |volume=56 |issue=218 |pages=556–573 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3512724 |doi=10.1017/S0031819100050580 |access-date=17 March 2008 |archive-date=31 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731181424/http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3512724 |url-status=live }}</ref> has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively [[Philosophy:Reductionism|reductionist]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Midgley |first=Mary |title=Science and Poetry |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-27632-0}}</ref> she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the [[Philosophy:Zeitgeist|Zeitgeist]] such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mary |last=Midgley |title=The solitary self: Darwin and the selfish gene |year=2010 |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |isbn=978-1-84465-253-2}}</ref> Besides, other, more recent views and analysis on his popular science works also exist.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alan G.|last=Gross|title=The Scientific Sublime: Popular Science Unravels the Mysteries of the Universe (Chapter 11: Richard Dawkins: The Mathematical Sublime) |year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press |asin=B07C8L2CZY}}</ref>

In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'),<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Andrew |title=The Darwin Wars: How stupid genes became selfish genes |year=1999 |publisher=London: Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-85144-0}}</ref><ref name="AndrewBrown2000">{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Brown (writer) |title=The Darwin Wars: The Scientific Battle for the Soul of Man |year=2000 |publisher=Touchstone |isbn=978-0-684-85145-7}}</ref> one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist [[Biography:Stephen Jay Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]], reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas.<ref name="Brockman">{{cite book |last=Brockman |first=J. |title=The Third Culture: Beyond the Scientific Revolution |year=1995 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-684-80359-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/thirdculture00broc}}</ref><ref name="Sterelny">{{cite book |last=Sterelny |first=K. |author-link=Kim Sterelny |title=Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest |year=2007 |publisher=Icon Books |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=978-1-84046-780-2 |title-link=Dawkins vs. Gould}}</ref> In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over [[Philosophy:Sociobiology|sociobiology]] and [[Philosophy:Evolutionary psychology|evolutionary psychology]], with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical.<ref>{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Richard |title=The Evolutionists |year=2001 |publisher=W. H. Freeman |isbn=978-0-7167-4094-0}}</ref> A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of ''[[Biology:Not in Our Genes|Not in Our Genes]]'' by [[Biography:Steven Rose|Steven Rose]], Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |date=24 January 1985 |title=Sociobiology: the debate continues |periodical=New Scientist |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Reviews/1985-01-24notinourgenes.shtml |access-date=3 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501043602/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Reviews/1985-01-24notinourgenes.shtml |archive-date=1 May 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are [[Biography:Steven Pinker|Steven Pinker]] and [[Biography:Daniel Dennett|Daniel Dennett]]; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended [[Philosophy:Reductionism|reductionism]] in biology.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dennett |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Dennett |title=Darwin's Dangerous Idea |journal=Complexity |volume=2 |issue=1 |department=Reviews: books and software |pages=32–36|year=1995 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=United States |isbn=978-0-684-80290-9 |bibcode=1996Cmplx...2a..32M |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1099-0526(199609/10)2:1<32::AID-CPLX8>3.0.CO;2-H |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/%28SICI%291099-0526%28199609/10%292%3A1%3C32%3A%3AAID-CPLX8%3E3.0.CO%3B2-H }} {{free access}}</ref> Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book ''A Devil's Chaplain'' posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.

When asked if [[Biology:Neo-Darwinism|Darwinism]] informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand, I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life", implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the [[Philosophy:Consciousness|consciousness]] of self.<ref name="strident" />

=== "Meme" as behavioural concept ===
{{Main|Philosophy:Meme}}
[[File:Richard Dawkins Cooper Union Shankbone.jpg|thumb|right|Dawkins at Cooper Union in {{wipe|New York City}} to discuss his book ''The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution'' in 2010]]

In his book ''The Selfish Gene'', Dawkins coined the word ''meme'' (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes.{{sfn|Dawkins|1989|p=11}} It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as [[Biography:Daniel Dennett|Daniel Dennett]] and [[Biography:Susan Blackmore|Susan Blackmore]]. These popularisations then led to the emergence of [[Philosophy:Memetics|memetics]], a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.<ref name="misunderstanding">{{cite journal |last1=Burman |first1=J. T. |year=2012 |title=The misunderstanding of memes: Biography of an unscientific object, 1976–1999 |journal=Perspectives on Science |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=75–104 |doi=10.1162/POSC_a_00057|s2cid=57569644 |doi-access=free }}{{open access}}</ref>

Dawkins's ''meme'' refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kelly |first=Kevin |title=Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World |year=1994 |publisher=Addison-Wesley |location=United States |isbn=978-0-201-48340-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/outofcontrolnewb00kell/page/360 360]| title-link = Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World}}</ref>

Although Dawkins invented the term ''meme'', he has not said that the idea was entirely novel,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/formerly-hyper-weird/memetics.html |title=Memes |work=Center for the Study of Complex Systems |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=14 August 2009 |last=Shalizi |first=Cosma Rohilla |archive-date=22 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422091304/http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/formerly-hyper-weird/memetics.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon.<ref name="mneme">{{Cite journal |last=Laurent |first=John |year=1999 |title=A Note on the Origin of 'Memes'/'Mnemes' |journal=Journal of Memetics |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=14–19 |url=http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1999/vol3/laurent_j.html |access-date=17 March 2008 |archive-date=25 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325202014/http://cfpm.org/jom-emit/1999/vol3/laurent_j.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists.<ref name="leiden">{{Cite web |last=van Driem |first=George |year=2007 |title=Symbiosism, Symbiomism and the Leiden definition of the meme |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249904767 |access-date=6 November 2018 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060835/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249904767_Symbiosism_Symbiomism_and_the_Leiden_definition_of_the_meme |url-status=live }}</ref> Laurent also found the use of the term ''mneme'' in Maurice Maeterlinck's ''The Life of the White Ant'' (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work.<ref name=mneme/> In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by stating that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme".<ref name="leiden"/> Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his [[Biology:The Selfish Gene|selfish gene]]s or his later proselytising against religiosity".<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Gleick |title=The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood |year= 2011 |publisher=Pantheon |isbn=978-0-375-42372-7 |page=269}}</ref>

=== Foundation ===

In 2006, Dawkins founded the ''Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science'' (''RDFRS''), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are [[Philosophy:Secularity|secular]] in nature.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.richarddawkins.net/foundation,ourMission |title=Our Mission |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |access-date=17 November 2006 |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117150429/http://www.richarddawkins.net/foundation,ourMission |archive-date=17 November 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the [[Organization:Center for Inquiry|Center for Inquiry]], with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/atheism/richard-dawkins-atheist-organization-merges-with-center-for-inquiry |title=Richard Dawkins' Atheist Organization Merges with Center for Inquiry |date=26 January 2016 |access-date=26 January 2016 |website=WorldReligionNews.com |last=Lesley |first=Alison |archive-date=28 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128080214/http://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/atheism/richard-dawkins-atheist-organization-merges-with-center-for-inquiry |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Criticism of religion===
[[File:Richard dawkins lecture.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Lecturing on his book ''The God Delusion'', 24 June 2006]]

Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilised world could still be so uneducated in biology,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/story/178/story_17889_2.html |title=The Problem with God: Interview with Richard Dawkins (2) |access-date=11 April 2008 |last=Sheahen |first=Laura |date=October 2005 |publisher=Beliefnet.com |archive-date=10 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410075833/http://www.beliefnet.com/story/178/story_17889_2.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins says that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which he says causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/transcript/dawk-frame.html |title=Interview with Richard Dawkins |access-date=12 April 2008 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=20 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620151103/http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/transcript/dawk-frame.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

He disagrees with [[Biography:Stephen Jay Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]]'s principle of [[Religion:Non-overlapping magisteria|nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA)]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132-3,00.html |title=God vs. Science (3) |access-date=3 April 2008 |date=5 November 2006 |last=Van Biema |first=David |magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}} |archive-date=11 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211180034/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132-3,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and suggests that the [[Philosophy:Existence of God|existence of God]] should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=50}} Dawkins became a prominent [[Religion:Criticism of religion|critic of religion]] and has stated his [[Religion:Antireligion|opposition to religion]] as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|pp=282–286}} He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/dawkins.html |title=Is Science A Religion? |publisher=The Humanist |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |date=1 January 1997 |access-date=31 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030144700/http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/dawkins.html |archive-date=30 October 2012}}</ref>

On his [[Spectrum of theistic probability|spectrum of theistic probability]], which ranges from 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) to 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9102740/Richard-Dawkins-I-cant-be-sure-God-does-not-exist.html |title=Richard Dawkins: I can't be sure God does not exist |date=24 February 2012 |access-date=5 March 2016 |first=John |last=Bingham |location=London |work=The Telegraph |archive-date=24 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524001926/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9102740/Richard-Dawkins-I-cant-be-sure-God-does-not-exist.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/side-effects/201202/why-does-richard-dawkins-take-issue-agnosticism |title=Why Does Richard Dawkins Take Issue With Agnosticism? |date=2 February 2012 |access-date=5 April 2016 |work=Psychology Today |first=Christopher |last=Lane }}</ref> In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion.<ref>{{cite news |first=Sarah |last=Knapton |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/10853648/Richard-Dawkins-I-am-a-secular-Christian.html |title=Richard Dawkins: 'I am a secular Christian' |newspaper=Telegraph |access-date=9 June 2014 |archive-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181221043247/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/10853648/Richard-Dawkins-I-am-a-secular-Christian.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized religious beliefs as irrational, such as that Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that [[Biology:Semen|semen]] comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.{{refn|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-islamophobic-berkeley-event-cancelled-islam-muslim-uc-university-california-a7860281.html|title=Richard Dawkins hits back at allegations he is Islamophobic after Berkeley event is cancelled|website=Independent.co.uk|date=26 July 2017|access-date=10 September 2017|archive-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829181754/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-islamophobic-berkeley-event-cancelled-islam-muslim-uc-university-california-a7860281.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/681453611906396160 |title=Dawkins Twitter This is almost as impressive as the prescient knowledge that embryo starts as a blob, semen comes from the spine & the sun sets in a marsh. |access-date=26 July 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060816/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/681453611906396160 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/344419641101275137 |title='Did Jesus exist?' Who cares? 'Did Jesus lack a father? Raise Lazarus? Walk on water? Resurrect?' I care, and the answer is no in all cases. |access-date=1 August 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060841/https://pbs.twimg.com/hashflag/config-2020-11-21-06.json |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/677189384169512960 |title=There are people who believe Jesus turned water into wine. How do they hold down a job in the 21st century? |access-date=1 August 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060819/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/677189384169512960 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/685591187479212032 |title=Ridicule is the proper response to beliefs such as Jesus' mother was a virgin, Joshua slowed Earth's rotation or Muhammad split the moon. |access-date=1 August 2017 |archive-date=21 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201121060820/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/685591187479212032 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/255543797528817664 |title=Over and above believing surreal nonsense about planets and magic stones, hats and underwear, Romney is also a liar |access-date=1 August 2017 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719043539/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/255543797528817664 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/244790357420826626 |title=Could you really vote for a man who thinks the Garden of Eden was in Missouri? |access-date=1 August 2017 |archive-date=30 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030133510/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/244790357420826626 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, ''[[Philosophy:The God Delusion|The God Delusion]]'', in 2006, which became an international bestseller.<ref name="michaelpowell">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |title=A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy |newspaper=The New York Times |first=Michael |last=Powell |access-date=31 December 2012 |date=19 September 2011 |archive-date=27 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227231703/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages.{{sfn|Dawkins|2015|p=173}} Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural [[Philosophy:Zeitgeist|zeitgeist]] and has also been identified with the rise of [[Philosophy:New Atheism|New Atheism]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html |title=The rise of the New Atheists |publisher=CNN |first=Simon |last=Hooper |date=9 November 2006 |access-date=16 March 2010 |archive-date=8 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408094135/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/08/atheism.feature/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a [[Medicine:Delusion|delusion]]—"a fixed false belief".{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=5}} In his February 2002 [[Software:TED (conference)|TED]] talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science.<ref name="militant" /> On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, [[Biography:Christopher Hitchens|Christopher Hitchens]], Sam Harris, and [[Biography:Daniel Dennett|Daniel Dennett]] met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |date=1 October 2013 |title=The Four Horsemen DVD |url=https://centerforinquiry.org/store/product/the-four-horsemen-discussions-with-richard-dawkins-episode-1-dvd/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611214236/https://richarddawkins.net/2013/10/the-four-horsemen-dvd-19-95/ |archive-date=11 June 2017 |access-date=13 April 2016 |website=Richard Dawkins Foundation |language=en-US}} See also {{YouTube|9DKhc1pcDFM}}</ref>

Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination.<ref name="belief interview"/><ref name="education">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Alexandra |url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1958138,00.html |title=Dawkins campaigns to keep God out of classroom |access-date=15 January 2007 |date=27 November 2006 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=9 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709084224/http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1958138,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bright">{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,981412,00.html |title=The future looks bright |access-date=13 March 2008 |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |date=21 June 2003 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=6 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606085217/http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,981412,00.html |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term ''[[Organization:Brights movement|bright]]'' as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a [[Philosophy:Naturalism|naturalistic]] worldview.<ref name="bright"/> He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school,<ref name="Powell">{{cite news |last=Powell |first=Michael |title=A Knack for Bashing Orthodoxy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html |date=19 September 2011 |work=The New York Times |page=4 |access-date=20 September 2011 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317151949/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/science/20dawkins.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence and be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history."<ref name="telegraph1">{{cite news |last=Beckford |first=Martin |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7849563/Richard-Dawkins-interested-in-setting-up-atheist-free-school.html |title=Richard Dawkins interested in setting up 'atheist free school' |newspaper=Telegraph |date=24 June 2010 |access-date=29 July 2010 |location=London |archive-date=27 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100627144143/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7849563/Richard-Dawkins-interested-in-setting-up-atheist-free-school.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gove-welcomes-atheist-schools-2037990.html |title=Gove welcomes atheist schools – Education News, Education |newspaper=The Independent |date=29 July 2010 |access-date=29 July 2010 |location=London |first=Richard |last=Garner |archive-date=1 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801053001/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gove-welcomes-atheist-schools-2037990.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of [[Social:Feminism|feminists]] in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.<ref name="bright" />

While some critics, such as writer [[Biography:Christopher Hitchens|Christopher Hitchens]], psychologist [[Biography:Steven Pinker|Steven Pinker]] and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and [[Biography:Steven Weinberg|Steven Weinberg]] have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusionReviews |title=The God Delusion&nbsp;– Reviews |access-date=8 April 2008 |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702000504/http://richarddawkins.net/godDelusionReviews |archive-date=2 July 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist [[Biography:Peter Higgs|Peter Higgs]], [[Biography:Astrophysicist|astrophysicist]] Martin Rees, philosopher of science [[Biography:Michael Ruse|Michael Ruse]], literary critic [[Biography:Terry Eagleton|Terry Eagleton]], philosopher [[Biography:Roger Scruton|Roger Scruton]], academic and social critic [[Biography:Camille Paglia|Camille Paglia]], atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian [[Biography:Alister McGrath|Alister McGrath]],{{refn|<ref>{{cite book |last=McGrath |first=Alister |title=Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life |year=2004 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-1-4051-2538-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dawkinsgodgenesm0000mcgr/page/81 81] |url=https://archive.org/details/dawkinsgodgenesm0000mcgr/page/81 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/02/atheism-dawkins-ruse |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Michael |last=Ruse |author-link=Michael Ruse |title=Dawkins et al bring us into disrepute |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=23 April 2016 |archive-date=19 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919173459/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/02/atheism-dawkins-ruse |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/oct/02/richard-dawkins-humanists-religion-atheists |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Michael |last=Ruse |author-link=Michael Ruse |title=Why Richard Dawkins' humanists remind me of a religion |date=2 October 2012 |access-date=13 December 2016 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821191854/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/oct/02/richard-dawkins-humanists-religion-atheists |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="salon.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/camille_paglia_takes_on_jon_stewart_trump_sanders_liberals_think_of_themselves_as_very_open_minded_but_that%e2%80%99s_simply_not_true/ |title=Camille Paglia takes on Jon Stewart, Trump, Sanders: "Liberals think of themselves as very open-minded, but that's simply not true!" |date=29 July 2015 |website=Salon |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-date=4 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204231514/https://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/camille_paglia_takes_on_jon_stewart_trump_sanders_liberals_think_of_themselves_as_very_open_minded_but_that%e2%80%99s_simply_not_true/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="spectator.co.uk">{{cite web |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2006/01/dawkins-is-wrong-about-god/ |title=Dawkins is wrong about God |date=14 January 2006 |website=The Spectator |access-date=19 January 2019 |archive-date=12 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612141649/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2006/01/dawkins-is-wrong-about-god/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/22/richard-dawkins-refusal-debate-william-lane-craig |title=Richard Dawkins's refusal to debate is cynical and anti-intellectualist |first=Daniel |last=Came |newspaper=The Guardian |date=22 October 2011 |via=www.theguardian.com |access-date=19 January 2019 |archive-date=30 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930081527/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/oct/22/richard-dawkins-refusal-debate-william-lane-craig |url-status=live }}</ref>}} have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/terry-eagleton/lunging-flailing-mispunching |title=Lunging, Flailing, Mispunching |first=Terry |last=Eagleton· |date=19 October 2006 |magazine=London Review of Books |access-date=16 May 2014 |volume=28 |issue=20 |pages=32–34 |archive-date=10 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100310145648/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/terry-eagleton/lunging-flailing-mispunching |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,1647,Do-you-have-to-read-up-on-leprechology-before-disbelieving-in-them,Richard-Dawkins-The-Independent,page27 |title=Do you have to read up on leprechology before disbelieving in them? |access-date=14 November 2007 |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |date=17 September 2007 |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071214014838/http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,1647,Do-you-have-to-read-up-on-leprechology-before-disbelieving-in-them,Richard-Dawkins-The-Independent,page27 |archive-date=14 December 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2007/story/0,,2089947,00.html |title=Scientists divided over alliance with religion |access-date=17 March 2008 |last=Jha |first=Alok |date=29 May 2007 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=19 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719103328/http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2007/story/0,,2089947,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Jha |first=Alok |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/dec/26/peter-higgs-richard-dawkins-fundamentalism |title=Peter Higgs criticises Richard Dawkins over anti-religious 'fundamentalism' |date=26 December 2012 |access-date=20 January 2016 |work={{wipe|The Guardian}} |archive-date=28 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028180407/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/dec/26/peter-higgs-richard-dawkins-fundamentalism |url-status=live }}</ref> Atheist philosopher [[Biography:John Gray (philosopher)|John Gray]] has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original", suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/119596/appetite-wonder-review-closed-mind-richard-dawkins |title=The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins |date=2 October 2014 |access-date=20 January 2016 |first=John |last=Gray |magazine=New Republic |archive-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216012235/https://newrepublic.com/article/119596/appetite-wonder-review-closed-mind-richard-dawkins |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2016 study found that many British scientists held an unfavourable view of Dawkins and his attitude towards religion.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/richard-dawkins-atheism-criticism-atheist-study-rice-university-science-scientists-a7389396.html |title=British scientists don't like Richard Dawkins, finds study that didn't even ask questions about Richard Dawkins |date=31 October 2016 |first =Andrew |last =Griffin |work=The Independent }}</ref> In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/dawkins_18_2.html |title=When Religion Steps on Science's Turf |access-date=3 April 2008 |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |year=2006 |work=Free Inquiry |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419125549/http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/dawkins_18_2.html |archive-date=19 April 2008 |ref=none}}</ref><ref name=rdf-fundamentalist>{{cite web |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=How dare you call me a fundamentalist |url=http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/1071-how-dare-you-call-me-a-fundamentalist |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |access-date=28 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231022508/http://old.richarddawkins.net/articles/1071-how-dare-you-call-me-a-fundamentalist |archive-date=31 December 2012}}</ref>

Dawkins has faced backlash over some of his public comments about Islam. In 2013, Dawkins [[Company:Twitter|tweeted]] that "All the world's Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Malik |first1=Nesrine |title=Richard Dawkins' tweets on Islam are as rational as the rants of an extremist Muslim cleric |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/08/richard-dawkins-tweets-islam-muslim-nobel |access-date=5 August 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=8 August 2013}}</ref> In 2016, Dawkins' invitation to speak at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism was withdrawn over his sharing of what was characterized as a "highly offensive video" satirically showing cartoon feminist and Islamist characters singing about the things they hold in common. In issuing the tweet, Dawkins stated that it "Obviously doesn't apply to vast majority of feminists, among whom I count myself. But the minority are pernicious."<ref name="Blair2016">{{cite news |last1=Blair |first1=Olivia |date=29 January 2016 |title=Richard Dawkins dropped from science event for tweeting video mocking feminists and Islamists |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/richard-dawkins-vdeo-twitter-necss-event-feminism-a6841161.html |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>

====Criticism of creationism====
Dawkins is a prominent critic of [[Philosophy:Creationism|creationism]], a religious belief that [[Biology:Human|human]]ity, life, and the [[Astronomy:Universe|universe]] were created by a [[Religion:Deity|deity]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/ |title=Creationism |last=Ruse |first=Michael |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Laboratory, [[Organization:Stanford University|Stanford University]] |quote=a Creationist is someone who believes in a god who is absolute creator of heaven and earth. |access-date=9 September 2009 |archive-date=9 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609094515/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/creationism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> without recourse to evolution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Eugenie C |author-link=Eugenie Scott |title=Evolution vs. creationism: an introduction |year= 2009 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-26187-7 |page=51 |chapter=Creationism |quote=The term 'creationism' to many people connotes the theological doctrine of special creationism: that God created the universe essentially as we see it today, and that this universe has not changed appreciably since that creation event. Special creationism includes the idea that God created living things in their present forms...}}</ref> He has described the [[Unsolved:Young Earth creationism|young Earth creationist]] view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/09/religion.schools1 |title=A scientist's view |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |date=9 March 2002 |work={{wipe|The Guardian}} |access-date=7 November 2009 |location=London |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821191933/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/mar/09/religion.schools1 |url-status=live }}</ref> His 1986 book, ''The Blind Watchmaker'', contains a sustained critique of the [[Astronomy:Teleological argument|argument from design]], an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the [[Philosophy:Watchmaker analogy|watchmaker analogy]] made famous by the eighteenth-century English [[Religion:Theology|theologian]] [[Biography:William Paley|William Paley]] via his book ''Natural Theology'', in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, ''blind'' watchmaker.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Books/blind.shtml |title=Book: The Blind Watchmaker |access-date=28 February 2008 |last=Catalano |first=John |publisher=The University of Oxford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415140851/http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/WorldOfDawkins-archive/Dawkins/Work/Books/blind.shtml |date=1 August 1996 |archive-date=15 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Dawkins aaconf.jpg|thumb|left|Wearing a scarlet 'A' lapel pin, at the 34th annual conference of American Atheists (2008)]]

In 1986, Dawkins and biologist [[Biography:John Maynard Smith|John Maynard Smith]] participated in an Oxford Union debate against [[Biography:A. E. Wilder-Smith|A. E. Wilder-Smith]] (a Young Earth creationist) and [[Biography:Edgar Andrews|Edgar Andrews]] (president of the Biblical Creation Society).{{Ref label|b|b|none}} In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague [[Biography:Stephen Jay Gould|Stephen Jay Gould]] and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of ''engaging'' with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public."{{sfn|Dawkins|2003|p=218}} In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word ''theory'', Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript349_full.html#dawkins |title='Now' with Bill Moyers |access-date=29 January 2006 |last=Moyers |first=Bill |date=3 December 2004 |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |archive-date=16 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516223956/http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript349_full.html#dawkins |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of [[Unsolved:Intelligent design|intelligent design]] in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/01/schools.research |title=One side can be wrong |access-date=21 December 2006 |date=1 September 2005 |author1=Dawkins, Richard |author2=Coyne, Jerry |name-list-style=amp |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |archive-date=26 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226232200/http://www.theguardian.com/science/2005/sep/01/schools.research |url-status=live }}</ref> He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler",<ref name="discover">{{cite web |url=http://discovermagazine.com/2005/sep/darwins-rottweiler |title=Darwin's Rottweiler |access-date=22 March 2008 |last=Hall |first=Stephen S. |date=9 August 2005 |work=Discover magazine |archive-date=21 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321202431/http://discovermagazine.com/2005/sep/darwins-rottweiler/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=mcgrath>{{cite book |last1=McGrath |first1=Alister |title=Dawkins' God: genes, memes, and the meaning of life |date=2007 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-1405125383 |page=i |edition=Reprinted |url=https://archive.org/details/dawkinsgodgenesm0000mcgr }}</ref> a reference to English biologist [[Biography:Thomas Henry Huxley|T. H. Huxley]], who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of [[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]]'s evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation [[Unsolved:Truth in Science|Truth in Science]], which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article641971.ece |title=Godless Dawkins challenges schools |access-date=3 April 2008 |date=19 November 2006 |last=Swinford |first=Steven |work=The Times |location=London |archive-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805101216/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article641971.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Political views ===

[[File:Ariane Sherine and Richard Dawkins at the Atheist Bus Campaign launch.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|With Ariane Sherine at the Atheist Bus Campaign launch in London, January 2009]]

Dawkins is an outspoken [[Philosophy:Atheism|atheist]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Bass |first=Thomas A. |title=Reinventing the future: Conversations with the World's Leading Scientists |url=https://archive.org/details/reinventingfutur00bass |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Addison Wesley |isbn=978-0-201-62642-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/reinventingfutur00bass/page/118 118] }} [https://books.google.com/books?id=yRZYc-LPz1oC&pg=PA118 Extract of page 118] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523013314/https://books.google.com/books?id=yRZYc-LPz1oC&hl=en&pg=PA118 |date=23 May 2020 }}</ref> and a supporter of various atheist, secular,<ref>{{cite web |publisher=National Secular Society |url=http://www.secularism.org.uk/honoraryassociates.html |title=Our Honorary Associates |year=2005 |access-date=21 April 2007 |archive-date=9 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709124141/http://www.secularism.org.uk/honoraryassociates.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.secular.org/bios/Richard_Dawkins.html |title=Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography |publisher=Secular.org |access-date=29 July 2010 |archive-date=31 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130331152929/http://secular.org/bios/Richard_Dawkins.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Philosophy:Secular humanism|humanist organisations]],<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The Humanist Society of Scotland |url=http://www.humanism-scotland.org.uk/about-us/the-hss-today.html |title=The HSS Today |year=2007 |access-date=3 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418122008/http://www.humanism-scotland.org.uk/about-us/the-hss-today.html |archive-date=18 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/3258 |title=The International Academy Of Humanism&nbsp;– Humanist Laureates |access-date=7 April 2008 |publisher=Council for Secular Humanism |archive-date=30 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330192331/https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/3258 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csicop.org/about/fellows.html |title=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry&nbsp;– Fellows |access-date=7 April 2008 |publisher=The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615215501/http://www.csicop.org/about/fellows.html |archive-date=15 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Who_We_Are/About_Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |title=Humanism and Its Aspirations&nbsp; – Notable Signers |access-date=9 February 2010 |publisher=[[Organization:American Humanist Association|American Humanist Association]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619130831/http://americanhumanist.org/Who_We_Are/About_Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |archive-date=19 June 2010}}</ref> including [[Organization:Humanists UK|Humanists UK]] and the [[Organization:Brights movement|Brights movement]].<ref name="militant">{{cite web |url=http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/richard_dawkins_on_militant_atheism.html |title=Richard Dawkins on militant atheism |date=February 2002 |access-date=14 December 2011 |publisher=TED Conferences, LLC |archive-date=11 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111211194007/http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/richard_dawkins_on_militant_atheism.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=3}} He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority.<ref name="suntimes">{{cite news |last=Chittenden |first=Maurice |author2=Waite, Roger |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3087486.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517000447/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3087486.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2008 |title=Dawkins to preach atheism to US |access-date=1 April 2008 |date=23 December 2007 |work=The Sunday Times |location=London}}</ref> Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the [[Philosophy:Out Campaign|Out Campaign]] to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly.<ref name="rd-out-annouce">{{cite web |url=http://richarddawkins.net/article,1471,The-Out-Campaign,Richard-Dawkins |title=The Out Campaign |access-date=1 April 2008 |date=30 July 2007 |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430213003/http://richarddawkins.net/article,1471,The-Out-Campaign,Richard-Dawkins |archive-date=30 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He supported a UK atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008 and 2009, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.humanism.org.uk/bus-campaign |title=The Bus Campaign |publisher=British Humanist Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220154544/http://www.humanism.org.uk/bus-campaign|archive-date=20 February 2012|url-status=dead |access-date=19 January 2009}}</ref>

[[File:Richard Dawkin Kepler Talk.jpg|thumb|upright|Speaking at Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, {{wipe|California}}, 29 October 2006]]

Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of the human population and about the matter of [[Unsolved:Human overpopulation|overpopulation]].<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC: The Selfish Green |url=http://richarddawkins.net/article,829,The-Selfish-Green,Jonathan-Dimbleby-David-Attenborough-Richard-Dawkins-Jane-Goodall-Richard-Leakey |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |date=2 April 2007 |access-date=22 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501094048/http://richarddawkins.net/article,829,The-Selfish-Green,Jonathan-Dimbleby-David-Attenborough-Richard-Dawkins-Jane-Goodall-Richard-Leakey |archive-date=1 May 2008 |url-status=dead}} For video in one segment, see {{YouTube | g5WUIDzxUeo }}</ref> In ''The Selfish Gene'', he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40&nbsp;years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of [[Medicine:Starvation|starvation]].{{sfn|Dawkins|1989|p=213}}

As a supporter of the [[Organization:Great Ape Project|Great Ape Project]]—a movement to extend certain moral and legal [[Philosophy:Rights|rights]] to all [[Biology:Hominidae|great apes]]—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the ''Great Ape Project'' book edited by Paola Cavalieri and [[Biography:Peter Singer|Peter Singer]]. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, [[Philosophy:Speciesism|speciesist]] imperative".<ref>{{cite book | editor-first1= Paola | editor-last1= Cavalieri | editor-first2= Peter | editor-last2= Singer |title=The Great Ape Project |year=1993 |publisher=Fourth Estate |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-312-11818-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatapeprojecte00cava}}</ref>

Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest ''3 Quarks Daily''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/06/the-winners-of-the-3-quarks-daily-2010-prize-in-science.html |title=3 Quarks Daily 2010 Prize in Science: Richard Dawkins has picked the three winners |date=1 June 2010 |access-date=20 January 2016 |archive-date=28 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128072740/http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/06/the-winners-of-the-3-quarks-daily-2010-prize-in-science.html |url-status=live }}</ref> His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq,<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=Bin Laden's victory |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/22/iraq.usa |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=22 March 2003 |access-date=15 March 2008 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505210246/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/22/iraq.usa |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush,<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=While we have your attention, Mr President... |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/18/usa.politics1 |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=18 November 2003 |access-date=16 March 2008 |archive-date=2 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802213236/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/18/usa.politics1 |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> and the ethics of designer babies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/from-the-afterword-1.836155 |title=From the Afterword |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |work=Herald Scotland |date=19 November 2006 |access-date=9 June 2014 |archive-date=10 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510235345/http://www.heraldscotland.com/from-the-afterword-1.836155 |url-status=live |ref=none}}</ref> Several such articles were included in ''A Devil's Chaplain'', an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected [[Social:President (government title)|president]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.republic.org.uk/Who%20we%20are/Our%20Supporters%20Include/index.php |title=Our supporters |publisher=Republic |date=24 April 2010 |access-date=29 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326212133/http://www.republic.org.uk/Who%20we%20are/Our%20Supporters%20Include/index.php |archive-date=26 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s{{sfn|Dawkins|1989|loc=Endnotes. Chapter 1. Why are people?}} and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith{{' "}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx |title=Show your support – vote for the Liberal Democrats on May&nbsp;6th |date=3 May 2010 |publisher=Libdems.org.uk |access-date=29 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414004332/http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx |archive-date=14 April 2010}}</ref> In the run up to the 2017 general election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.

[[File:Richard Dawkins on free speech and Islam(ism).webm|thumb|Dawkins discusses free speech and Islam(ism) at the 2017 Conference on Free Expression and Conscience.]]
In April 2021, Dawkins said on Twitter that "In 2015, Rachel Dolezal, a white chapter president of NAACP, was vilified for identifying as Black. Some men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss." After receiving criticism for this tweet, Dawkins responded by saying that "I do not intend to disparage trans people. I see that my academic "Discuss" question has been misconstrued as such and I deplore this. It was also not my intent to ally in any way with Republican bigots in US now exploiting this issue."<ref name="Flood-2021" /> The [[Organization:American Humanist Association|American Humanist Association]] retracted Dawkins' 1996 Humanist of the Year Award in response to these comments.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 April 2021 |title=American Humanist Association Board Statement Withdrawing Honor from Richard Dawkins |url=https://americanhumanist.org/news/american-humanist-association-board-statement-withdrawing-honor-from-richard-dawkins/ |access-date=14 March 2023 |website=American Humanist Association |language=en-US}}</ref> Robby Soave of ''Reason'' magazine criticized the retraction, saying that "The drive to punish dissenters from various orthodoxies is itself illiberal."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Soave |first=Robby |date=26 April 2021 |title=By Canceling Richard Dawkins, the American Humanist Association Has Betrayed Its Values |url=https://reason.com/2021/04/26/by-canceling-richard-dawkins-the-american-humanist-association-has-betrayed-its-values/ |access-date=11 August 2023 |website=Reason |language=en-US}}</ref>

Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/page/2/?mapcountry=allpro&mapgroup=pro |title=Overview |work=Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly |access-date=9 October 2017 |language=en-US |archive-date=8 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808234235/https://en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/page/2/?mapcountry=allpro&mapgroup=pro |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dawkins identifies as a feminist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/280427716010983424 |title=Richard Dawkins |date=16 December 2012 |access-date=3 May 2015 |website=Twitter |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |archive-date=4 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904014126/https://twitter.com/richarddawkins/status/280427716010983424 |url-status=live }}</ref> He has said that feminism is "enormously important".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.salon.com/2014/12/08/richard_dawkins_is_there_a_mens_rights_movement/ |title=Richard Dawkins: "Is There a Men's Rights Movement?" |work=Salon |last=Kutner |first=Jenny |date=8 December 2014 |access-date=1 February 2015 |archive-date=17 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217192227/http://www.salon.com/2014/12/08/richard_dawkins_is_there_a_mens_rights_movement/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins has been accused by writers such as Amanda Marcotte, Caitlin Dickson, and Adam Lee of [[Social:Misogyny|misogyny]], criticizing those who speak about sexual harassment and abuse while ignoring sexism within the [[Philosophy:New Atheism#Criticisms|New Atheist movement]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.salon.com/2014/10/03/new_atheisms_troubling_misogyny_the_pompous_sexism_of_richard_dawkins_and_sam_harris_partner/ | title=Atheism's shocking woman problem: What's behind the misogyny of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris? | date=3 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/richard-dawkins-sexist-atheists-bad-name | title=Richard Dawkins has lost it: Ignorant sexism gives atheists a bad name | newspaper=The Guardian | date=18 September 2014 | last1=Lee | first1=Adam }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/07/richard-dawkins-draws-feminist-wrath-over-sexual-harassment-comments/352530/ | title=Richard Dawkins Gets into a Comments War with Feminists | website=The Atlantic | date=6 July 2011 }}</ref>

=== Views on postmodernism ===
In 1998, in a book review published in ''Nature'', Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the [[Philosophy:Sokal affair|Sokal affair]], ''Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science'' by [[Biography:Paul R. Gross|Paul R. Gross]] and [[Biography:Norman Levitt|Norman Levitt]] and ''Intellectual Impostures'' by [[Biography:Alan Sokal|Sokal]] and [[Biography:Jean Bricmont|Jean Bricmont]]. These books are famous for their criticism of [[Philosophy:Postmodernism|postmodernism]] in U.S. universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).<ref name="postmodernism">{{cite journal|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|date=9 July 1998|title=Postmodernism Disrobed|journal=Nature|volume=394|issue=6689|pages=141–143|bibcode=1998Natur.394..141D|doi=10.1038/28089|s2cid=40887987|doi-access=free}} For article with math symbols see [http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html this link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417132936/http://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/dawkins.html |date=17 April 2016 }}.</ref>

Echoing many critics, Dawkins holds that postmodernism uses [[Obscurantism|obscurantist]] language to hide its lack of meaningful content. As an example he quotes the psychoanalyst [[Biography:Félix Guattari|Félix Guattari]]: "We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis." This is explained, Dawkins maintains, by certain intellectuals' academic ambitions. Figures like Guattari or [[Biography:Jacques Lacan|Lacan]], according to Dawkins, have nothing to say but want to reap the benefits of reputation and fame that derive from a successful academic career: "Suppose you are an intellectual impostor with nothing to say, but with strong ambitions to succeed in academic life, collect a coterie of reverent disciples and have students around the world anoint your pages with respectful yellow highlighter. What kind of literary style would you cultivate? Not a lucid one, surely, for clarity would expose your lack of content."<ref name="postmodernism" />

=== Other fields ===
[[File:Jayce Lewis & Prof Richard Dawkins 2018.jpg|thumb|Musician Jayce Lewis at Dawkins' home in 2018 while working on ''Million'' (Part 2)]]

In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of [[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|pseudoscience]] and [[Medicine:Alternative medicine|alternative medicine]]. His 1998 book ''Unweaving the Rainbow'' considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the [[Earth:Rainbow|rainbow]], [[Biography:Isaac Newton|Isaac Newton]] diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "[[Social:Myth|myth]]s" and "[[Unsolved:Pseudoscience|pseudoscience]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=Unweaving The Rainbow |year=1998 |publisher=Penguin |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-618-05673-6 |pages=4–7}}</ref> For John Diamond's posthumously published ''Snake Oil'', a book devoted to debunking [[Medicine:Alternative medicine|alternative medicine]], Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=John |title=Snake Oil and Other Preoccupations |year=2001 |publisher=Vintage |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-09-942833-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/snakeoilotherpre0000diam }}</ref> Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work."{{sfn|Dawkins|2003|p=58}} In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film ''The Enemies of Reason'', Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1559468/New-age-therapies-cause-retreat-from-reason.html |title=New age therapies cause 'retreat from reason' |date=5 August 2007 |first=David |last=Harrison |work=The Telegraph |location=London |access-date=25 March 2016 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821160511/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1559468/New-age-therapies-cause-retreat-from-reason.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, ''Genius of Britain'', along with fellow scientists [[Biography:Stephen Hawking|Stephen Hawking]], James Dyson, [[Biography:Paul Nurse|Paul Nurse]], and [[Biography:Jim Al-Khalili|Jim Al-Khalili]]. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2009/01/dawkins_to_front_c4_science_series.html |title=C4 lines up Genius science series |date=27 January 2009 |first=Robin |last=Parker |access-date=31 January 2009 |work=Broadcast}} {{Subscription required}}</ref>

In 2014, he joined the global awareness movement [[Astronomy:Asteroid Day|Asteroid Day]] as a "100x Signatory".<ref name="Telegrapharticle">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11272393/Asteroids-could-wipe-out-humanity-warn-Richard-Dawkins-and-Brian-Cox.html |title=Asteroids could wipe out humanity, warn Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox |newspaper=The Telegraph |first=Sarah |last=Knapton |date=4 December 2014 |access-date=4 December 2014 |archive-date=22 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222205213/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11272393/Asteroids-could-wipe-out-humanity-warn-Richard-Dawkins-and-Brian-Cox.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==

[[File:Deschner Dawkins.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Receiving the Deschner Prize in Frankfurt, 12 October 2007, from Karlheinz Deschner]]

He holds [[Social:Honorary degree|honorary doctorates]] in science from the [[Organization:University of Huddersfield|University of Huddersfield]], [[Organization:University of Westminster|University of Westminster]], [[Organization:Durham University|Durham University]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Durham salutes science, Shakespeare and social inclusion |url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/allnews/?itemno=3972 |work=Durham University News |date=26 August 2005 |access-date=11 April 2006 |archive-date=3 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080203181748/http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/allnews/?itemno=3972 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Organization:University of Hull|University of Hull]], the [[Organization:University of Antwerp|University of Antwerp]], the University of Oslo, the [[Organization:University of Aberdeen|University of Aberdeen]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vcs.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-4924.php |title=Best-selling biologist and outspoken atheist among those honoured by University |date=1 September 2011 |access-date=1 January 2012 |publisher=University of Aberdeen |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901041512/http://vcs.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-4924.php |archive-date=1 September 2011}}</ref> [[Organization:Open University|Open University]], the Vrije Universiteit Brussel,<ref name=cv/> and the [[Organization:University of Valencia|University of Valencia]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Richard Dawkins, doctor 'honoris causa' per la Universitat de València |url=http://www.uv.es/~webuv/noticies/noticia.php?idnoticia=7165 |date=31 March 2009 |access-date=2 April 2009 |publisher=[[Organization:University of Valencia|University of Valencia]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011191110/http://www.uv.es/~webuv/noticies/noticia.php?idnoticia=7165 |archive-date=11 October 2011 |url-status=dead}} Note: web page is in Spanish.</ref> He also holds honorary doctorates of letters from the [[Organization:University of St Andrews|University of St Andrews]] and the Australian National University (HonLittD, 1996), and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2001.<ref name=frs/><ref name=cv/> He is one of the patrons of the Oxford University Scientific Society.

In 1987, Dawkins received a Royal Society of Literature award and a ''{{wipe|Los Angeles Times}}'' Literary Prize for his book ''The Blind Watchmaker''. In the same year, he received a Sci. Tech Prize for Best Television Documentary Science Programme of the Year for his work on the BBC's ''Horizon'' episode ''The Blind Watchmaker''.<ref name=cv/>

In 1996, the [[Organization:American Humanist Association|American Humanist Association]] gave him their Humanist of the Year Award, but the award was withdrawn in 2021, with the statement that he "demean[ed] marginalized groups", including transgender people, using "the guise of scientific discourse".<ref>{{cite web |title=American Humanist Association Board Statement Withdrawing Honor from Richard Dawkins |url=https://americanhumanist.org/news/american-humanist-association-board-statement-withdrawing-honor-from-richard-dawkins/ |date=19 April 2021 |access-date=20 April 2021 |publisher=American Humanist Association}}</ref><ref name="Flood-2021">{{Cite web|date=20 April 2021|title=Richard Dawkins loses 'humanist of the year' title over trans comments|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/20/richard-dawkins-loses-humanist-of-the-year-trans-comments|access-date=20 April 2021|first=Alison|last=Flood|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

Other awards include the [[Organization:Zoological Society of London|Zoological Society of London]]'s [[Organization:Silver Medal (Zoological Society of London)|Silver Medal]] (1989), the Finlay Innovation Award (1990), the Michael Faraday Award (1990), the Nakayama Prize (1994), the fifth International Cosmos Prize (1997), the Kistler Prize (2001), the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic (2001), the 2001 and 2012 Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the [[Organization:Freedom From Religion Foundation|Freedom From Religion Foundation]], the Bicentennial Kelvin Medal of The Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow (2002),<ref name=cv/> the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2006),<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration|access-date=9 July 2020|archive-date=15 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration|url-status=live}}</ref> and the Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest (2009).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=967 |title=Scripps Institution of Oceanography Honors Evolutionary Biologist, Richard Dawkins, in Public Ceremony and Lecture |access-date=7 April 2009 |author=Scripps Institution of Oceanography |date=7 April 2009 |publisher=Scripps Institution of Oceanography |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719202306/http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=967 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was awarded the Deschner Award, named after German anti-clerical author Karlheinz Deschner.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hpd-online.de/node/2010 |title=Deschner-Preis an Richard Dawkins |access-date=4 April 2008 |first=Giordano Bruno |last=Stiftung |date=28 May 2007 |publisher=Humanistischer Pressedienst |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719042744/http://hpd.de/node/2010 |archive-date=19 July 2011}} Note: Web page in German.</ref> The [[Organization:Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] (CSICOP) has awarded Dawkins their highest award ''In Praise of Reason'' (1992).<ref name="Dallas 1992">{{cite journal |title=CSICOP's 1992 Awards |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=1993 |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=236}}</ref>

[[File:Richard Dawkins speaking at the British Humanist Association Annual Conference.jpg|thumb|left|Dawkins accepting the Services to Humanism award at the British Humanist Association Annual Conference in 2012]]
Dawkins topped ''Prospect'' magazine's 2004 list of the top 100 public British intellectuals, as decided by the readers, receiving twice as many votes as the runner-up.<ref>{{cite news |title=Q&A: Richard Dawkins |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3935757.stm |work=BBC News |date=29 July 2004 |access-date=9 March 2008 |archive-date=21 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021092752/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3935757.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2004/08/publicintellectualspoll/ |title=Public Intellectuals Poll |access-date=9 March 2008 |last=Herman |first=David |year=2004 |work=Prospect |archive-date=6 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106105034/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2004/08/publicintellectualspoll/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He was shortlisted as a candidate in their 2008 follow-up poll.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2008/04/19/the-top-100-public-intellectuals-bios/ |title=The Top 100 Public Intellectuals |access-date=22 April 2008 |work=Prospect |date=19 April 2008 |archive-date=26 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226161632/http://foreignpolicy.com/2008/04/19/the-top-100-public-intellectuals-bios/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In a poll held by ''Prospect'' in 2013, Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker based on 65 names chosen by a largely US and UK-based expert panel.<ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Dugdale |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/apr/25/richard-dawkins-named-top-thinker |title=Richard Dawkins named world's top thinker in poll |date=25 April 2013 |access-date=26 April 2013 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=12 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112212108/http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/apr/25/richard-dawkins-named-top-thinker |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2005, the [[Place:Hamburg|Hamburg]]-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded him its Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his "concise and accessible presentation of scientific knowledge". He won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science for 2006, as well as the Galaxy British Book Awards's Author of the Year Award for 2007.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Publishing News |url=http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk/pnbb_winners2007.asp?#3 |title=Galaxy British Book Awards&nbsp;– Winners & Shortlists |year=2007 |access-date=21 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927130727/http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk/pnbb_winners2007.asp#3 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the same year, he was listed by ''Time'' magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1595329_1616137,00.html |title=Time Top 100 |access-date=2 March 2008 |last=Behe |first=Michael |magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}} |date=3 May 2007 |archive-date=14 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080314061433/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1595329_1616137,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was ranked 20th in ''The Daily Telegraph''{{'s}} 2007 list of 100 greatest living geniuses.<ref>{{cite news |title=Top 100 living geniuses |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=28 October 2007 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html |access-date=4 October 2010 |location=London |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803031241/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has awarded a prize during its annual conference, honouring an outstanding atheist whose work has done the most to raise public awareness of atheism during that year; it is known as the Richard Dawkins Award, in honour of Dawkins's own efforts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/04/30/dawkins/index.html |title=The atheist |work=Salon |date=30 April 2005 |first=Gordy |last=Slack |access-date=3 August 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704233721/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/04/30/dawkins/index.html |archive-date=4 July 2007}}</ref> In February 2010, Dawkins was named to the [[Organization:Freedom From Religion Foundation|Freedom From Religion Foundation]]'s Honorary Board of distinguished achievers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ffrf.org/news/releases/honorary-ffrf-board-announced/ |title=Honorary FFRF Board Announced |access-date=20 August 2008 |publisher=[[Organization:Freedom From Religion Foundation|Freedom From Religion Foundation]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217052917/http://ffrf.org/news/releases/honorary-ffrf-board-announced/ |archive-date=17 December 2010}}</ref>

In 2012, a Sri Lankan team of [[Biology:Ichthyology|ichthyologists]] headed by Rohan Pethiyagoda named a new [[Biology:Genus|genus]] of freshwater fish ''[[Biology:Dawkinsia|Dawkinsia]]'' in Dawkins's honor. (Members of this genus were formerly members of the genus ''[[Biology:Puntius|Puntius]]'').<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEvNbHt8O7e3jB5HlC2uwNrSQvpQ?docId=CNG.2417bf61f21b75ec00dacc78e05295ae.341 |title=Sri Lankans name new fish genus after atheist Dawkins |access-date=16 July 2012 |work=Google News |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=15 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521022747/https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hEvNbHt8O7e3jB5HlC2uwNrSQvpQ?docId=CNG.2417bf61f21b75ec00dacc78e05295ae.341 |archive-date=21 May 2013}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Dawkins has been married three times and has a daughter. On 19 August 1967, Dawkins married ethologist Marian Stamp in the Protestant church in Annestown, County Waterford, Ireland;<ref>Richard Dawkins, ''An Appetite for Wonder – The Making of a Scientist'', p. 201.</ref> they divorced in 1984. On 1 June 1984, he married Eve Barham (1951–1999) in Oxford. They had a daughter. Dawkins and Barham divorced.<ref name=McKie/> In 1992, he married actress Lalla Ward<ref name="McKie">{{cite news |first=Robin |last=McKie |title=Doctor Zoo |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1268687,00.html |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=25 July 2004 |access-date=17 March 2008 |archive-date=28 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080128132354/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1268687,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> in Kensington and Chelsea, London. Dawkins met her through their mutual friend [[Biography:Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams |url=https://archive.org/details/hitchhikerbiogra00simp |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=Justin, Charles & Co. |isbn=978-1-932112-35-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hitchhikerbiogra00simp/page/129 129] |first1=M.J. |last1=Simpson}} [https://archive.org/details/hitchhikerbiogra00simp/page/129 Chapter 15, p. 129]</ref> who had worked with her on the BBC's ''Doctor Who''. Dawkins and Ward separated in 2016 and they later described the separation as "entirely amicable".<ref>{{cite news |title=Richard Dawkins and Viscount of Bangor's sister Lalla Ward separate after 24 years |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/richard-dawkins-and-viscount-of-bangors-sister-lalla-ward-separate-after-24-years-34890652.html |access-date=17 July 2016 |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph |date=17 July 2016 |archive-date=18 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718144205/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/richard-dawkins-and-viscount-of-bangors-sister-lalla-ward-separate-after-24-years-34890652.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He identifies as an [[Philosophy:Atheism|atheist]] who is a "cultural Anglican", associated with the Church of England, and a "[[Religion:Cultural Christians|secular Christian]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Richard Dawkins admits he is a 'cultural Anglican'|url=https://www.anglicannews.org/news/2013/09/richard-dawkins-admits-he-is-a-cultural-anglican.aspx|access-date=2 December 2021|website=www.anglicannews.org|language=en-gb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Cath|title=Richard Dawkins: First he was a 'cultural Anglican', now he's a 'secular Christian'|url=https://www.christiantoday.com/article/richard-dawkins-first-he-was-a-cultural-anglican-now-hes-a-secular-christian/37673.htm|access-date=2 December 2021|website=www.christiantoday.com|date=26 May 2014 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=23 February 2012|title=High noon in Oxford: Dawkins vs the archbishop|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-religion-idUKTRE81M1ZR20120223|access-date=2 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=10 December 2007|title=Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7136682.stm|access-date=2 December 2021}}</ref> On 6 February 2016, Dawkins suffered a minor haemorrhagic [[Medicine:Stroke|stroke]] while at home.<ref name="stroke">{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Dudding |title=Richard Dawkins suffers stroke, cancels New Zealand appearance |date=12 February 2016 |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/76837596/richard-dawkins-suffers-stroke-cancels-new-zealand-appearance |newspaper=Fairfax New Zealand |access-date=12 February 2016 |archive-date=13 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213113111/http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/76837596/Richard-Dawkins-suffers-stroke-cancels-New-Zealand-appearance |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/12/richard-dawkins-has-stroke-on-eve-of-australia-and-new-zealand-tour |title=Richard Dawkins stroke forces delay of Australia and New Zealand tour |first=Calla |last=Wahlquist |newspaper=The Guardian |date=11 February 2016 |access-date=11 February 2016 |location=London |archive-date=12 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212131437/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/12/richard-dawkins-has-stroke-on-eve-of-australia-and-new-zealand-tour |url-status=live }}</ref> Dawkins reported later that same year that he had almost completely recovered.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36363676 |title=Professor Dawkins on recovering from a mild stroke |work=Radio 4 Today |date=24 May 2016 |access-date=10 October 2016 |archive-date=13 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013152931/http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36363676 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://richarddawkins.net/2016/04/an-april-4th-update-from-richard/ |title=An April 4th Update from Richard |date=4 April 2016 |access-date=5 April 2016 |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |archive-date=19 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419135501/https://richarddawkins.net/2016/04/an-april-4th-update-from-richard/ |url-status=live }} [https://soundcloud.com/user-733970241 Audio file] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115021827/https://soundcloud.com/user-733970241 |date=15 November 2017 }}</ref>

== Media ==

=== Selected publications ===
* {{Cite book |title=The Selfish Gene |year=1976 |title-link=The Selfish Gene}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Extended Phenotype |year=1982 |title-link=The Extended Phenotype}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Blind Watchmaker |year=1986 |title-link=The Blind Watchmaker}}
* {{Cite book |title=River Out of Eden |year=1995 |title-link=River Out of Eden}}
* {{Cite book |title=Climbing Mount Improbable |year=1996 |title-link=Climbing Mount Improbable}}
* {{Cite book |title=Unweaving the Rainbow |year=1998 |title-link=Unweaving the Rainbow}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Devil's Chaplain |year=2003 |title-link=A Devil's Chaplain}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Ancestor's Tale |year=2004 |title-link=The Ancestor's Tale}}
* {{Cite book |title=The God Delusion |year=2006 |title-link=The God Delusion}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing |year=2008 |title-link=The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution |year=2009 |title-link=The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution}}
* {{Cite book |title=The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True |year=2011 |title-link=The Magic of Reality}}
* {{Cite book |title=An Appetite for Wonder |year=2013 |title-link=An Appetite for Wonder}}. First volume of his memoirs. 
* {{Cite book |title=Brief Candle in the Dark |year=2015 |title-link=Brief Candle in the Dark}}. Second volume of his memoirs. 
* {{Cite book |title=Science in the Soul |year=2017 |title-link=Science in the Soul}}
* {{Cite book |title=Outgrowing God |year=2019}}
*{{Cite book |title=Books Do Furnish a Life |year=2021}}
*{{Cite book |title=Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution |title-link=Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution |year=2021}}

=== Documentary films ===
* ''Nice Guys Finish First'' (1986)
* ''The Blind Watchmaker'' (1987)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbcactive.com/BroadCastLearning/asp/catalogue/productdetail.asp?productcode=207 |title=BBC Educational and Documentary: Blind Watchmaker |last=Staff |publisher=BBC |access-date=2 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616012920/http://www.bbcactive.com/BroadCastLearning/asp/catalogue/productdetail.asp?productcode=207 |archive-date=16 June 2007}}</ref>
* ''[[Biology:Growing Up in the Universe|Growing Up in the Universe]]'' (1991)
* ''Break the Science Barrier'' (1996)
* ''The Atheism Tapes'' (2004)
* ''The Big Question'' (2005) – Part 3 of the TV series, titled "Why Are We Here?"
* ''The Root of All Evil?'' (2006)
* ''The Enemies of Reason'' (2007)
* ''The Genius of Charles Darwin'' (2008)
* ''Faith School Menace?'' (2010)
* ''Beautiful Minds'' (April 2012) – BBC4 documentary
* ''Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life'' (2012)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sex-death-and-the-meaning-of-life/episode-guide/series-1 |last=Staff |title=Sex, Death and the Meaning of Life |publisher=Channel 4 |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-date=15 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015183103/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sex-death-and-the-meaning-of-life/episode-guide/series-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''The Unbelievers'' (2013)

=== Other appearances ===

Dawkins has made many television appearances on news shows providing his political opinions and especially his views as an atheist. He has been interviewed on the radio, often as part of his book tours. He has debated many religious figures. He has made many university speaking appearances, again often in coordination with his book tours. As of 2016, he has over 60 credits in the Internet Movie Database where he appeared as himself:
* ''[[Unsolved:Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed|Expelled]]'' (2008) – as himself, presented as a leading scientific opponent of intelligent design in a film that contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticise evidence supporting Darwinian evolution
* ''Doctor Who'': "The Stolen Earth" (2008) – as himself
* ''Inside Nature's Giants'' (2009–12) – as guest expert
* ''The Simpsons'': "Black Eyed, Please" (2013) – appears in Ned Flanders' dream of Hell; provided voice as a demon version of himself<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/03/10/richard-dawkins-appears-in-ned-flanders-nightmare-on-the-simpsons/ |title=Richard Dawkins Appears in Ned Flanders' Nightmare on The Simpsons |date=10 March 2013 |access-date=20 January 2016 |first=Hemant |last=Mehta |publisher=Patheos |archive-date=30 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130060804/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2013/03/10/richard-dawkins-appears-in-ned-flanders-nightmare-on-the-simpsons/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''Endless Forms Most Beautiful'' (2015) – by Nightwish: Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish had Dawkins as a guest star on the album.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-next-album-to-feature-guest-appearance-by-atheist-writerleader-richard-dawkins/ |title=Nightwish's Next Album To Feature Guest Appearance By British Professor Richard Dawkins |work=Blabbermouth.net |date=16 October 2014 |access-date=19 January 2015 |archive-date=9 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209031827/http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-next-album-to-feature-guest-appearance-by-atheist-writerleader-richard-dawkins |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-tuomas-holopainen-gives-endless-forms-most-beautiful-track-by-track-breakdown-video/ |title=Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen Gives 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful' Track-By-Track Breakdown (Video) |date=17 March 2015 |access-date=20 January 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051208/http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-tuomas-holopainen-gives-endless-forms-most-beautiful-track-by-track-breakdown-video/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Shutt |first1=Dan |title=Nightwish, Wembley Arena, gig review: Closing with The Greatest Show on Earth too much for sell-out audience to handle |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/music-magazine/live-music/live-reviews/nightwish-wembley-arena-gig-review-closing-with-the-greatest-show-on-earth-too-much-for-sell-out-a6781496.html |website=The Independent |publisher=Independent Print Limited |access-date=3 January 2016 |date=21 December 2015 |archive-date=25 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160125184215/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/music-magazine/live-music/live-reviews/nightwish-wembley-arena-gig-review-closing-with-the-greatest-show-on-earth-too-much-for-sell-out-a6781496.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He provides narration on two tracks: "Shudder Before the Beautiful", in which he opens the album with one of his own quotes, and "The Greatest Show on Earth", inspired by and named after his book ''The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution'', and in which he quotes ''On the Origin of Species'' by [[Biography:Charles Darwin|Charles Darwin]].<ref name=spaziorock>{{cite web |title=Nightwish: track by track di "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"! |url=http://www.spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=nightwish-esclusivo-track-by-track-di-endless-forms-most-beautiful |website=SpazioRock |access-date=10 April 2015 |date=17 March 2015 |language=it |archive-date=4 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704195744/http://www.spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=nightwish-esclusivo-track-by-track-di-endless-forms-most-beautiful |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=EMP>{{cite web |last1=Schleutermann |first1=Marcus |title=Nightwish – Food for Thought |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzLMBGFBJ4I |website=EMP Rockinvasion |access-date=10 March 2015 |location=Köln |language=en, de |date=27 February 2015 |archive-date=3 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503004023/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzLMBGFBJ4I |url-status=live }}</ref> He subsequently performed his parts live with Nightwish on 19 December 2015 at the Wembley Arena in London; the concert was later released as a part of a live album/DVD titled ''Vehicle of Spirit''.
*''Intersect'', a 2020 American thriller film in which Dawkins provided the voice of Q42/Computer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Millican |first1=Josh |title=Trailer: INTERSECT Delivers High-Concept, Lovecraftian Horror/Sci-fi September 15th |url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/341097/trailer-intersect-delivers-high-concept-lovecraftian-horror-sci-fi-september-15th/ |website=Dread Central |access-date=30 June 2022 |date=3 September 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Squires |first1=John |title=Lovecraftian 'Intersect' Brings Monsters to Miskatonic University This September [Trailer] |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3628798/lovecraftian-intersect-brings-monsters-miskatonic-university-september-trailer/ |website=Bloody Disgusting! |access-date=30 June 2022 |date=24 August 2020}}</ref>

== Notes ==

{{refbegin}}

'''a.''' {{Note label|a|a|none}} [[Biography:W. D. Hamilton|W. D. Hamilton]] influenced Dawkins and the influence can be seen throughout Dawkins's book ''The Selfish Gene''.<ref name="belief interview"/> They became friends at Oxford and following Hamilton's death in 2000, Dawkins wrote his obituary and organised a [[Philosophy:Secularity|secular]] memorial service.<ref>{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |title=Obituary by Richard Dawkins |url=http://www.unifr.ch/biol/ecology/hamilton/hamilton.html#Dawkins |newspaper=The Independent |date=3 October 2000 |access-date=22 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318185801/http://www.unifr.ch/biol/ecology/hamilton/hamilton.html#Dawkins |archive-date=18 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

'''b.''' {{Note label|b|b|none}} The debate ended with the motion "That the doctrine of creation is more valid than the theory of evolution" being defeated by 198 votes to 115.<ref>Critical-Historical Perspective on the Argument about Evolution and Creation, John Durant, in "From Evolution to Creation: A European Perspective (Eds. Sven Anderson, Arthus Peacocke), Aarhus Univ. Press, Aarhus, Denmark</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |date=12 March 2007 |title=1986 Oxford Union Debate: Richard Dawkins, John Maynard Smith |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |url=http://richarddawkins.net/article,721,1986-Oxford-Union-Debate,Richard-Dawkins-John-Maynard-Smith |access-date=10 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729152706/http://richarddawkins.net/audio/721-1986-oxford-union-debate |archive-date=29 July 2012 |url-status=dead}} Debate no longer available at that website. For the debate audio in video format in two segments, see part 1 at {{YouTube |D4I7znTq0gs}} and part 2 at {{YouTube |uKtT2hDPCIU}}</ref>

{{refend}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Selected bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The Selfish Gene |edition=2nd |year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=United Kingdom |isbn=978-0-19-286092-7 |title-link=The Selfish Gene }}
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The God Delusion |year=2006 |publisher=Transworld Publishers |isbn=978-0-593-05548-9 | title-link = The God Delusion}}
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=A Devil's Chaplain |year=2003 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson (United Kingdom), Houghton Mifflin (United States) |isbn=978-0753817506 |title-link=A Devil's Chaplain }}
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science |year=2015 |publisher=Bantam Press |isbn=978-0-59307-256-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The Ancestor's Tale |edition=2nd |year=2016 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson (United Kingdom) |isbn=978-0753817506 |title-link=The Ancestor's Tale }}

===On Dawkins===
* {{cite book |title=Richard Dawkins: How A Scientist Changed the Way We Think |last1=Grafen |first1=Alan |last2=Ridley |first2=Mark |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-929116-8 |ref={{sfnRef|Grafen|2006}}|url= https://archive.org/details/richarddawkinsho00alan}}

== External links ==

* {{snds}}The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
* [https://richarddawkins.com/ Richard Dawkins] Personal Website
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{TED speaker}}
* {{C-SPAN|1012495}}
* {{Guardian topic}}
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/richard-dawkins Richard Dawkins – latest news] at ''The Independent''
* [https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/richard-dawkins Richard Dawkins] at ''{{wipe|The New York Times}}''
* [https://bigthink.com/people/richarddawkins/ Richard Dawkins] at Big Think

{{Ethology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawkins, Richard}}
[[Category:Critics of religions]]
[[Category:Critics of creationism]]
[[Category:Ethologists]]
[[Category:Evolutionary psychologists]]
[[Category:Secular humanists]]

{{Sourceattribution|Richard Dawkins}}