《自私的基因》50周年：一个引发争议的进化观点

The Selfish Gene continues to challenge readers half a century later J. Arvid Ågren R ichard Dawkins’s former tutor Arthur Cain once called The Selfish Gene “a young man’s book.” The line was not his own. He borrowed it from a verdict on A. J. Ayer, who made a splash with Language, Truth and Logic but later softened, if not quite disowned, its thesis. The implication, however, was clear. In time, Dawkins too would rethink his youthful certainties. Cain’s prediction has not held up. Half a century on, Dawkins still stands by the book’s central claim: Biology is best understood from the perspective of genes. …