Taking Memes Seriously [Knockin' Dawkins on the Noggin]

New English Review ^ | March 2010 | Mark Signorelli

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

In his book The Selfish Gene, noted nihilist Richard Dawkins ushered the faux-concept of memes into the world by declaring it to be a “unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation,”[1] which is exactly like referring to a unit of literary theory, or a segment of talent, or a yard of affection. Such blatant linguistic hucksterism would be startling from any other man but Dawkins, who, after all, cozened his way into authorial fame by attributing a common psychological state to tiny globs of amino acids, and then swearing up and down that he was doing no such thing. With this man, such chicanery is of a course. Indeed, he is so entirely shameless about the matter that he freely professes to employing a “verbal trick”[2] to illustrate the nature of memes. He will have his “unit of imitation,” in despite of common sense, and he will invoke the laws of science for his justification:

The laws of physics are supposed to be true all over the accessible universe. Are there any principles of biology that are likely to have similar universal validity...Obviously I do not know but, if I had to bet, I would put my money on one fundamental principle. This is the law that all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities. The gene, the DNA molecule, happens to be the replicating entity that prevails on our own planet. There may be others.[3]

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Snarky yet philosophical at the same time.

[gov_bean_ counter]

"Richard Dawkins"

Didn't he host "Family Feud"???

[Spudx7]

Every time I have seen Dawkins interviewed the same verse comes to mind. Romans 1:22 “Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

[mockingbyrd]

Snarky yet philosophical at the same time.P>

My favorite kind.....

[flowerplough]

blatant linguistic hucksterism? I’ll say! Can’t even fathom sentence one.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

blatant linguistic hucksterism

British evolutionism meets Arkansas politics?

[cricket]

Yet so far was this inauspicious inception of the meme meme from discouraging Dawkins' dutiful Yankee minion, Daniel Dennett (a man of very mediocre intellect, though a mind anything but disinterested), that he mildly reproaches his master for failing to defend the notion of memes in subsequent publications with the full strenuousness that Dennet himself is willing to exert for its vindication.[10] Several chapters in Darwin's Dangerous Idea are devoted to the defense of memes, marked from beginning to end by that hectoring and digressive style which has become Dennett's calling card, and by which he has earned his status as the clown prince of contemporary academic philosophy.

What would Christopher Hitchens' think?

[AliVeritas]

BTTT

[dpwiener]

Snarky yet philosophical at the same time.

Snarky, yes. Philosophical, not so much. Most of his essay is filled with vituperative ad hominem attacks rather than rational arguments against the ideas in question. That in turn tells me all I need to know about the cogency of his arguments.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

That in turn tells me all I need to know about the cogency of his arguments.

Sorry, but I've found in the past that this type of argument conveys the sense of "I didn't want to take the time to read the whole thing." It's a fallcy, actually, to correlate the tone of a piece with the validity of its arguments.