The Selfish Gene as a New Perspective on an Old Hypothesis

The selfish gene theory is Darwin's theory, expressed in a way that Darwin did not choose but whose aptness, I should like to think, he would instantly have recognized and delighted in. It is in fact a logical outgrowth of orthodox neo-Darwinism, but expressed as a novel image. Rather than focus on the individual organism, it takes a gene's-eye view of nature. It is a different way of seeing, not a different theory. In the opening pages of The Extended Phenotype, I explained this using the metaphor of the Necker cube.

This is a two-dimensional pattern of ink on paper, but it is perceived as a transparent, three-dimensional cube. Stare at it for a few seconds and it will change to face in a different direction. Carry on staring and it will flip back to the original cube. Both cubes are equally compatible with the two-dimensional data on the retina, so the brain happily alternates between them. Neither is more correct than the other. My point was that there are two ways of looking at natural selection, the gene's angle and that of the individual. If properly understood they are equivalent; two views of the same truth. You can flip from one to the other and it will still be the same neo-Darwinism.

I now think that this metaphor was too cautious. Rather than propose a new theory or unearth a new fact, often the most important contribution a scientist can make is to discover a new way of seeing old theories or facts. The Necker cube model is misleading because it suggests that the two ways of seeing are equally good. To be sure, the metaphor gets it partly right: 'angles', unlike theories, cannot be judged by experiment; we cannot resort to our familiar criteria of verification and falsification. But a change of vision can, at its best, achieve something loftier than a theory. It can usher in a whole climate of thinking, in which many exciting and testable theories are born, and unimagined facts laid bare. The Necker cube metaphor misses this completely. It captures the idea of a flip in vision, but fails to do justice to its value. What we are talking about is not a flip to an equivalent view but, in extreme cases, a transfiguration.

Notes:

It is Darwin's theory, but a story told from the gene's point of view.

Folksonomies: metaphor popularization theory perspective

Taxonomies:
/travel/tourist destinations/caribbean (0.566769)
/science/medicine/genetics (0.493215)
/science/mathematics/geometry (0.467550)

Keywords:
Necker cube (0.971669 (negative:-0.690474)), Necker cube metaphor (0.772767 (negative:-0.869152)), selfish gene theory (0.751479 (neutral:0.000000)), Necker cube model (0.739323 (negative:-0.587532)), three-dimensional cube (0.485405 (neutral:0.000000)), original cube (0.469177 (neutral:0.000000)), orthodox neo-Darwinism (0.441039 (neutral:0.000000)), Old Hypothesis (0.409394 (neutral:0.000000)), New Perspective (0.406203 (neutral:0.000000)), two-dimensional pattern (0.406038 (negative:-0.633893)), Extended Phenotype (0.404864 (neutral:0.000000)), two-dimensional data (0.404073 (negative:-0.329170)), novel image (0.393644 (positive:0.622500)), individual organism (0.389307 (neutral:0.000000)), different direction (0.379667 (neutral:0.000000)), natural selection (0.372920 (positive:0.525981)), different theory (0.372594 (neutral:0.000000)), different way (0.368784 (positive:0.411244)), important contribution (0.363463 (positive:0.544308)), familiar criteria (0.359067 (negative:-0.725418)), equivalent view (0.359004 (negative:-0.451922)), old theories (0.358286 (positive:0.551576)), extreme cases (0.352372 (negative:-0.401554)), new theory (0.347409 (neutral:0.000000)), new fact (0.344694 (neutral:0.000000)), unimagined facts (0.344060 (positive:0.595494)), new way (0.341772 (positive:0.551576)), flip (0.238027 (negative:-0.557304)), point (0.213321 (positive:0.221935)), ways (0.202452 (positive:0.598383))

Entities:
Darwin:OperatingSystem (0.912129 (negative:-0.204109)), scientist:JobTitle (0.479329 (positive:0.551576))

Concepts:
Gene (0.989031): dbpedia | freebase
Richard Dawkins (0.882202): website | dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago | musicBrainz
The Extended Phenotype (0.768109): dbpedia | freebase | yago
The Selfish Gene (0.759132): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Evolution (0.708262): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Evolutionary biology (0.573696): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Theory (0.554239): dbpedia | freebase
Natural selection (0.537103): dbpedia | freebase

 The Selfish Gene - First Edition
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Dawkins , Richad (1976), The Selfish Gene - First Edition, Oxford, Retrieved on 2007-01-09
 


Schemas