Page 194 - The Evolution Impasse 2

192 "Selfish Gene" Theory, The

ture, un der mines the fun da men tal spring sur vive, there will be a great -
prem ise of the the o ry of ev o lu tion. er chance of her genes be ing hand ed
Indeed, the well-known ev o lu - on to the sub se quent gen er a tions.
tion ist Stephen Jay Gould de scribes According to this per spec tive, all
"the vex a tious prob lem of al tru ism" liv ing things, hu man be ings in clud -
214 in na ture. The ev o lu tion ist ed, are gene ma chines. And ev ery
Gordon Rattray Taylor writes that liv ing thing's most im por tant task is
the al tru is tic be hav ior in liv ing to be able to hand on its genes to lat -
things "has long pre sent ed a chal - er gen er a tions.
lenge for Darwinism," 215 mak ing it Evolutionists say that liv ing
clear what a di lem ma ev o lu tion ists things are pro grammed to con tin ue
face in the ar ea. Nature con tains in - their own blood lines and to wish to
stan ces of al tru ism and af fec tion, pass on their genes, and so be have in
which are com plete ly non-ma te ri al a man ner ap pro pri ate to that pro -
val ues, which deals a mor tal blow to gram ming. The fol low ing quote is
the ma te ri al ist view that sees all of an ex am ple of the clas sic ev o lu tion -
na ture as ran dom in ter ac tions of ist ac count of an i mal be hav ior:
mat ter. What could ac count for po ten tial ly
However, un will ing to ad mit the self-de struc tive be hav ior? At least
in va lid i ty of ev o lu tion a ry sce nar i os, some al tru is tic acts are re put ed to stem
some ev o lu tion ists came up with the from so-called self ish genes. Parents
so-called Selfish Gene Theory. that work them selves rag ged to feed in -
According to this claim, whose lead - sa tia ble off spring or go with out food as
long as a pred a tor is near are prob a bly
ing proponent was Richard
car ry ing out ge net i cal ly pro grammed
Dawkins, one of the most av id pre-
be hav ior—be hav ior that in creas es the
sent-day pro po nents of ev o lu tion,
chan ces of pa ren tal genes with in the
be hav ior that ap pears to be al tru is tic
off spring be ing passed on to yet an oth -
ac tu al ly stems from self ish ness, in
er gen er a tion. These in nate, in stinc tive
ex hib it ing al tru is tic be hav ior, an i -
re spons es to pred a tors may seem "pur -
mals are ac tu al ly think ing of pre -
pose ful" to the hu man ob serv er, but in
serv ing their genes rath er than of fact they are be hav ior al pro grams trig -
help ing an oth er liv ing thing. In sac - gered by sights, sounds, odors, and
ri fic ing her own life for that of her oth er cues. 216
off spring, a moth er is ac tu al ly pro -
Consequently, ev o lu tion ists say
tect ing her own genes. If her off -

The Evolution Impasse II