A Devil's Chaplain
Encyclopedia
A Devil's Chaplain, subtitle
d Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love is a 2003
book of selected essay
s and other writings by Richard Dawkins
. Published five years after his previous book Unweaving the Rainbow
, it contains 32 essays covering subjects including pseudoscience
, genetic determinism
, memetics
, terrorism
, religion
and creationism
. A section of the book is devoted to Dawkins' late adversary Stephen Jay Gould
.
The book's title is a reference to a quotation of Charles Darwin
, made in reference to Darwin's lack of belief in how "a perfect world" was designed
by God
:
"What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low and horridly cruel works of nature!"
1 Science and Sensibility– essays largely concerning science
and the scientific method
.
2 Light Will Be Thrown– essays on Darwinian
topics.
3 The Infected Mind– a selection of anti-religious
writings.
4 They Told Me, Heraclitus– some eulogies for late friends.
5 Even the Ranks of Tuscany– a section devoted to the late Stephen Jay Gould
.
6 There is All Africa and her Prodigies in Us– essays connected with Africa
.
7 A Prayer for My Daughter– an open letter
to Dawkins' daughter Juliet (to whom the book is dedicated), concerning the importance of evaluating evidence.
Subtitle (titling)
In books and other works, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title. For example, Mary Shelley used a subtitle to give her most famous novel, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, an alternate title to give a hint of the theme. In library cataloging the subtitle does not include an...
d Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love is a 2003
2003 in literature
The year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
book of selected essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s and other writings by Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
. Published five years after his previous book Unweaving the Rainbow
Unweaving the Rainbow
Unweaving the Rainbow is a 1998 book by Richard Dawkins, discussing the relationship between science and the arts from the perspective of a scientist....
, it contains 32 essays covering subjects including pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
, genetic determinism
Genetic determinism
Genetic determinism is the belief that genes determine morphological and behavioral traits and do so with little or no influence from environmental factors....
, memetics
Memetics
Memetics is a theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution, originating from Richard Dawkins' 1976 book The Selfish Gene. It purports to be an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. A meme, analogous to a gene, is essentially a "unit of...
, terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and creationism
Creationism
Creationism is the religious beliefthat humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural being, most often referring to the Abrahamic god. As science developed from the 18th century onwards, various views developed which aimed to reconcile science with the Genesis...
. A section of the book is devoted to Dawkins' late adversary Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
.
The book's title is a reference to a quotation of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, made in reference to Darwin's lack of belief in how "a perfect world" was designed
Teleological argument
A teleological or design argument is an a posteriori argument for the existence of God based on apparent design and purpose in the universe. The argument is based on an interpretation of teleology wherein purpose and intelligent design appear to exist in nature beyond the scope of any such human...
by God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
:
"What a book a devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low and horridly cruel works of nature!"
Content
The book is divided into seven sections as follows:1 Science and Sensibility– essays largely concerning science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and the scientific method
Scientific method
Scientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of...
.
- 1.1 A Devil's Chaplain
- 1.2 What is True?
- 1.3 Gaps in the Mind
- 1.4 Science, Genetics and Ethics: Memo for Tony BlairTony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
- 1.5 Trial By Jury
- 1.6 Crystalline Truth and Crystal Balls
- 1.7 Postmodernism Disrobed
- 1.8 The Joy of Living Dangerously; Sanderson of Oundle
2 Light Will Be Thrown– essays on Darwinian
Darwinism
Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or of evolution, including some ideas with no connection to the work of Charles Darwin....
topics.
- 2.1 Light Will Be Thrown
- 2.2 Darwin Triumphant
- 2.3 The 'Information Challenge'
- 2.4 Genes Aren't Us
- 2.5 Son of Moore's LawMoore's LawMoore's law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware: the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years....
3 The Infected Mind– a selection of anti-religious
Antireligion
Antireligion is opposition to religion. Antireligion is distinct from atheism and antitheism , although antireligionists may be atheists or antitheists...
writings.
- 3.1 Chinese Junk and Chinese Whispers
- 3.2 Viruses of the MindViruses of the Mind"Viruses of the Mind" is an article by Richard Dawkins using memetics and analogies with biological and computer viruses, and with disease and epidemiology, to analyse the propagation of ideas and behaviours. Its particular focus is on religious beliefs and activities...
- 3.3 The Great Convergence
- 3.4 Dolly and the Cloth Heads
- 3.5 Time to Stand Up
4 They Told Me, Heraclitus– some eulogies for late friends.
- 4.1 Lament for Douglas
- 4.2 Eulogy for Douglas AdamsDouglas AdamsDouglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
- 4.3 Eulogy for W. D. HamiltonW. D. HamiltonWilliam Donald Hamilton FRS was a British evolutionary biologist, widely recognised as one of the greatest evolutionary theorists of the 20th century....
- 4.4 Snake Oil
5 Even the Ranks of Tuscany– a section devoted to the late Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
.
- 5.1 Rejoicing in Multifarious Nature
- 5.2 The Art of the Developable
- 5.3 Hallucigenia, Wiwaxia and Friends (A review of Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful LifeWonderful Life (book)Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History is a book on the evolution of Cambrian fauna by Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould...
) - 5.4 Human Chauvinism and Evolutionary Progress
- 5.5 Unfinished Correspondence with a Darwinian Heavyweight
6 There is All Africa and her Prodigies in Us– essays connected with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
- 6.1 Ecology of Genes
- 6.2 Out of the Soul of Africa
- 6.3 I Speak of Africa and Golden Joys
- 6.4 Heroes and Ancestors
7 A Prayer for My Daughter– an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
to Dawkins' daughter Juliet (to whom the book is dedicated), concerning the importance of evaluating evidence.
- 7.1 Good and Bad Reasons for Believing
External links
- Review by Michael RuseMichael RuseMichael Ruse is a philosopher of biology at Florida State University, and is well known for his work on the creationism/evolution controversy and the demarcation problem in science...
, 2003. "Through a Glass, Darkly." American ScientistAmerican ScientistAmerican Scientist is the bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi. Each issue includes four to five feature articles written by scientists and engineers. These authors review research in all fields of science...
. - Review by Richard HarriesRichard Harries, Baron Harries of PentregarthRichard Douglas Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth is a retired bishop of the Church of England. He was the 41st Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. Since 2008 he has been the Gresham Professor of Divinity.-Education and army career:...
, 2003. "A Devil's Chaplain by Richard Dawkins". The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. - Review by Richard HollowayRichard HollowayRichard F. Holloway is a Scottish writer and broadcaster and was formerly Bishop of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church....
, 2003. "A callous world." The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.