A Devil’s Chaplain

Title: A Devil’s Chaplain – Selected Essays

Author: Richard Dawkins

Editor: Latha Menon

Publisher: Phoenix, 2004 (First published 2003)

ISBN: 9780753817506

Pages: 310

Ever since the untimely decease of Christopher Hitchens, the number of gurus who promote scientific reason and rational thought on a worldwide scale has dwindled by half – to the person of Richard Dawkins. This biologist from Oxford University is forever ready to take up cudgels on behalf of reason and clear thought. Braving brickbats from all corners of superstition like religious fundamentalism, creation theory, intelligent design and alternative medicine. This book is a selection of essays from all articles and lectures, reflections and polemics, book reviews and forewords, tributes and eulogies made by Richard Dawkins in the past quarter of a century. Latha Menon, who compiled the articles, is an editorial consultant who has her background in physics and has worked as editor for Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia project. The title of the volume is that of the first chapter itself, on Charles Darwin, who coined the phrase in a letter to his friend as “what a book a Devil’s Chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low and horridly cruel works of nature”. Darwin was, of course, referring to the natural process of evolution which is another face of nature, red in tooth and claw.

The book covers in a nutshell all the major ideas ever put forward by Dawkins over his literary career spanning several decades as of date. If computer parlance could be borrowed, it may be called a zipped down version of the author’s prodigiously rich output. His advocacy for evolution, promotion of scientific spirit in the society and concerns on education in general is lucidly evident from the diverse nature of essays. Equally visible to the discerning eye is his inborn aversion to religion, creationism and the act of religiously minded parents – of inculcating the principles of the religion they believe in, in the minds of young children – by exploiting the natural gullibility of them at that age. He strongly opines against young children being left to the care of nuns, or by extrapolation, other religious figureheads too. Dawkins’ note to the then prime minister of Britain, Tony Blair, is remarkable for the clarity of thought and presentation of newer scientific ideas that can be easily comprehended by common men and politicians. Right approach to education is stressed in many places. Overhauling of the examination-centric approach is a crying need of the hour on account of the lack of interest and rapidly building up stress on young pupils. The chapter on Sanderson of Oundle School presented the case of an extraordinary headmaster who challenged the notions of established wisdom in school administration by throwing open the school’s labs, library and other points of interest at all times, so that the students were not constrained by non-availability of facilities at a time most convenient to them. His plan reaped rich dividends in moulding a good many students who were extremely talented and scored brilliantly when they eventually appeared for the exams.

Humour is a constant companion of the author’s incisive criticism of creationism and established religion. Perhaps that’s why his detractors find his barbs so painful and excoriating. His advice to young children is not to believe anything solely based on the trilogy of tradition, authority and revelation. His style is also marked by the rich variety of examples he comes up with, particularly when genetic transmission of particulars that helped an organism survive better than other members of its clan or species, is discussed. These are very clear-cut and illuminating as to convince most readers other than fundamentalists and highly opinionated people, who would readily believe in religious miracles, but find it hard to convince themselves that man had set foot in the moon. Such individuals combine the obstinacy of religious dogma with skepticism of enlightenment, and thereby producing a lethal combination of ignorance with belligerence. Dawkins’ pointed dig at homeopathy is also evident in more than one chapter. Homeopathy is a sophisticated manifestation of faith healing, which has no valid credentials other than anecdotal evidence of healing, mostly by placebo effect. Still, a lot of people practice the medicine and find gullible patients who are willing to undergo the treatment. But awareness is not far away, when homeopathy will be consigned to the dustbin of charlatanry.

The idea of memes as the analog of genes on the intellectual plane was first proposed by the author in the 1970s, which has been granted the status of a new word in English. He takes due credit for the origin of the word. Memes represent an idea, or a cultural element that is transferred from one person to another so as to modify his or her behavior. Like self-replicating genes, memes are also subject to natural selection. Dawkins confidently asserts that while Universal Darwinism is the ubiquitous biological principle, memes have become the theory of human culture. Taking a further step, Dawkins finds similarity with computer viruses, whose replication can also be equated to that of genes and memes. But, the fanciful prediction of computer viruses evolving towards compatibility with and mutual assistance to each other is rather off the mark, attributable to unfamiliarity with the cyber world. However, his simile of religion as a mental virus of faith is prescient and sums up the outrageous acts of the devoted. Scientific reason is touted as the antiviral software in this case.

In the tirade against quacks and proponents of alternative medicine, Dawkins summarizes the reasons why people fall in the trap and enunciates remedies by which this can be resisted. Eastern mystics come up with exotic theories in their lore which are claimed to be in anticipation of modern scientific principles invented only in the last century or so. Quantum Mechanics is a favourite pasture for these parasites. Quantum Mechanics is deeply mysterious and hard to understand, so is eastern mysticism. So, eastern mystics must have been talking about quantum theory all along – such goes their skewed reasoning. In the case of alternative medicine, Dawkins ridicules its practitioners for refusing to test their pharmacopoeia through standard, randomized double blind trials. But they consistently shy away from testing by citing pompous and insincere reasons. This forces the book to assert that alternative medicine is a set of practices which can’t be tested, refuse to be tested, or consistently fail tests. If they somehow manage to pass the test, it is no longer alternative – they’d straightaway become mainstream. The book includes Dawkins’ reviews of Stephen Jay Gould’s books. It is no secret that the rivalry between these two luminaries was very intense. However, the author gives a very favourable assessment of Gould’s work, at the same time expressing his reservations on some of the points.

The book is divided into seven sections ranging from science, memes, people, memories and personal. Each section is adorned by an individual foreword written by Dawkins himself, in which he explains the background of writing that particular article. All aspects of the author’s literary career are amply covered in this volume. Latha Menon has done a wonderful job in selecting the right articles. The book contains an impressive list of Notes and a commendable index.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star