Critical Examination of Dawkins’ Biological Reductionism within the Framework of the Gene-Centric Theory and Its Comparison with Mullā Ṣadrā’s Philosophical Anthropology

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Faculty Member, Department of Islamic Studies, Kermanshah University of Technology

Abstract
Dawkins’s gene-centered theory offers an evolutionary account of living beings in which the gene plays a decisive role in shaping behavior and biological structures, and the human being is understood as the product of genetic processes. By emphasizing the mechanism of natural selection, this approach tends toward a form of reductionism that explains mental, volitional, and teleological elements in biological terms. In contrast, Mulla Sadra, through his account of the soul in light of the primacy of existence and substantial motion, presents a dynamic and supra-biological view of human reality in which the soul possesses existential stages independent of the body and is oriented toward an end. Using an analytical-comparative method, this study first examines the epistemological and ontological foundations of Dawkins’s and Mulla Sadra’s views, and then compares their anthropological implications. The findings indicate that Sadrian metaphysics, by affirming degrees of existence and a teleological understanding of the soul, is better able to explain consciousness, free will, and human perfection, whereas in Dawkins’s genetic model these are either neglected or reduced to biology. Thus, Transcendent Philosophy provides a broader framework for understanding human identity.

Keywords

Subjects

Boudry, M., & Vlerick, M. (2014). Natural selection does care about truth.International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 28(1), 65–77.
Dawkins, R. (1995). River out of Eden: A Darwinian view of life. Basic Books.
Dawkins, R. (2016a). The selfish gene (40th anniversary ed.). Oxford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (2016b). The extended phenotype: The long reach of the gene. Oxford University Press.
Dawkins, R. (2017). Science in the soul: Selected writings of a passionate rationalist. Random House.
Dawkins, R. (2019). Outgrowing God: A beginner’s guide. Bantam Press.
Dawkins, R. (2021). Books do furnish a life: Reading and writing science. Bantam Press.
Dawkins, R. (2024). The genetic book of the dead: A Darwinian reverie. Penguin Books.
Dickins, T. E. (2023). The role of information in evolutionary biology.Acta Biotheoretica, 71(3), Article 17.
Goodman, A. H., Heath, D., & Lindee, M. S. (Eds.). (2003). Genetic nature/culture: Anthropology and science beyond the two-culture divide. University of California Press.
Ishii, K. (2022). Gene and culture coevolution and interaction: A review of empirical findings and future directions.Japanese Psychological Review, 65(2), 186–204.
Kalin, I. (2010). Mullā Ṣadrā’s theory of knowledge and the unification argument. In Knowledge in later Islamic philosophy: Mulla Ṣadrā on existence, intellect, and intuition (pp. 86–194). Oxford University Press.
Lu, Q., & Bourrat, P. (2018). The evolutionary gene and the extended evolutionary synthesis.The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 69(3), 775–800.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2019). Mulla Sadra. Stanford University.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive Page
 
References [In Persian & In Arabic]
Ahangaran, M. R., Fallahnejad, A., Zamiri, M. R., & Alavifard, M. (2019). The evolution of the human soul: An examination of two interpretations of substantial motion in Mulla Sadra’s thought.Religious Anthropology, 16(42), 107–125. [in Persian]
Ahmadi, M. S., Abbasi, B., & Rahmati, E. (2022). Evolution and intelligent design: An examination of Richard Dawkins’ and Antony Flew’s views on the argument from design.Novin-e Dini, 71, 177–196. [in Persian]
Molahosseini, F., & Javadi, M. (2023). The unity of the ultimate goal of human beings in Mulla Sadra’s views.Religious Thought at Shiraz University, 23(88), 97–116. [in Persian]
Namazi Khairabadi, S. M., & Ashrafi, A. R. (2023). The origin of human belief in God from the perspectives of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and Richard Dawkins.Maʿrifat, 310, 9–19. [in Persian]
Qolizadeh, A. (2023). A critical examination of the impact of new evolutionary atheism on the foundations of the humanities, with a focus on the views of Allameh Mesbah Yazdi.Fundamental Research in the Humanities, 9(1), 37–54. [in Persian]
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, M. ibn Ibrāhīm (Mulla Sadra). (1962). ʿArshiyyah (G. Āhanī, Ed. & Trans.). Faculty of Literature and Humanities. [in Persian]
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, M. ibn Ibrāhīm (Mulla Sadra). (1981). Al-shawāhid al-rubūbiyyah fī al-manāhij al-sulūkiyyah (J. Āshtiyānī, Ed.; H. ibn Mahdī Sabzavārī, Annot.; 2nd ed.). University Publishing Center. [in Persian]
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, M. ibn Ibrāhīm (Mulla Sadra). (1984). Mafātīḥ al-ghayb (M. Khwājūī, Ed. & Intro.; ʿAlī ibn Jamshīd Nūrī, Annot.). Institute for Cultural Studies and Research & Iranian Islamic Association of Philosophy and Wisdom. [in Persian]
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, M. ibn Ibrāhīm (Mulla Sadra). (1987). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm (M. Khwājūī, Ed.; 2nd ed., 7 vols.). Bīdār. [in Persian]
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī, M. ibn Ibrāhīm (Mulla Sadra). (1989). Al-ḥikmah al-mutaʿāliyah fī al-asfār al-ʿaqliyyah al-arbaʿah (2nd ed., 9 vols.). Maktabat al-Muṣṭafawī. [in Persian]
Shakeri, M. T. (2024). Mulla Sadra’s conception of the self and consciousness as the foundation of practical life and its comparison with the views of some contemporary Western philosophers.Practical Theology, 1(1), 34–56. [in Persian]
Shakerin, H. R. (2022). A critical examination of Dawkins’ atheistic reading of the theory of evolution.Islamic Wisdom, 9(3), 69–90. [in Persian]