The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without DesignThe watchmaker belongs to the eighteenth-century theologian William Paley, who made one of the most famous creationist arguments: Just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. It was Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery that put the lie to these arguments. But only Richard Dawkins could have written this eloquent riposte to the creationists. Natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind, yet essentially nonrandom process that Darwin discovered - has no purpose in mind. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker. Acclaimed as perhaps the most influential work on evolution written in this century, The Blind Watchmaker offers an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. |
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The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe ... Richard Dawkins No preview available - 1996 |
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe ... Richard Dawkins No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
acquired characteristics actually Album analogy animals anteater argument arms race bats biological biologists Biomorph Land biomorphs bird Blind Watchmaker blueprint body brain branching breeding called cells chance chapter cheetahs chromosomes cladists common ancestor complex convergent convergent evolution copies crystals cumulative selection Darwin Darwinian disc driver ants echoes echolocation effect embryology engine evolution evolutionary change evolve existence explain fact favour female preference fish fossil record genetic space gradualist haemoglobin happened human idea improvement inherited insect instance kind Lamarckism large number lineages living machine macromutation male mammals marsupial means million modern molecular molecules mutation natural selection organisms original particular pattern planet population possible predators probably protein punctuated equilibrium punctuationists random reason recipe replicators resemblance saltationism segments sense sexual selection simple single species success survival tail length taxonomists taxonomy theory things tree true turn whole words