The selfish metaphor: Conceits of evolution

Many people regard metaphors and images as surface finishes. But please take a look at how they hijack our way of thinking about evolution.

SELFISH gene, fitness survival, competition, eagle and dove strategy. As with all theories, Darwinism has its own unique vocabulary. Indeed, quite clearly, how do we talk about evolution? After all, is the evolution of competition the only possible background to explain biological facts? Competition, war, selfish drama do not attract people's attention. People are used to this quite bold style of speaking and even speaking about the way we talk about current science.

In the past 30 years, evolution was the most obvious example of a metaphor unconsciously using a metaphor. A biologist and a complex theorist Brian Goodwin suggested the necessary modifications in "How leopards change its place" and stated that "all humans are working in our competition" It was. Selfish altruism ... These are not romantic desires or idealistic ideals, they arise from reconsideration of our nature in complex science. But it was in 1991 - very few people are listening

Dove 's challenge to non - dove people against metaphor and perspective of Dawkins. One of the complex problems of the evolution theory of Richard Dawkins is that the overall concept of his evolution theory is not necessarily completely expressed by the metaphor which he promotes. Selfish genie takes into account the complexity and subtleties of the evolutionary mechanisms and processes. It seems that the metaphor of "selfish gesture" is affecting some complicated readers. For example, Dawkins clearly recognizes the frequent effects of genes (upper side) on the expression level (ie synthesis of gene products) and the quality and quantity of functional effects (mediated primarily by their encoded gene products) ing. Some of those who understand the metaphor of "selfish gestures" do not seem to recognize these aspects of the evolutionary picture that Dawkins draws.