Richard Dawkins: Faith | Big Think

Richard Dawkins: Faith
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You can be committed to science, but as soon as you're committed to a hypothesis, you've walked off the trail of objective truth, says Richard Dawkins. For him, that is the mission of science and the purpose of the scientific method: these truths exist—they are the foundations of innovations like vaccinations, antibiotics, and space travel, because they are built on something solid: evidence. Einstein is known for highly valuing the role of imagination in science, and Dawkins agrees: imagination and intuition are the springboards scientific progress depends on—but when evidence refutes a hypothesis or a feeling, that's the end of the line. Dogged persistence doesn't get you any closer to the truth, says Dawkins, only critical thinking can do that. Richard Dawkins' latest book is Science In The Soul: Selected Writings of a Passionate Rationalist.
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RICHARD DAWKINS:

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and the former Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is the author of several of modern science's essential texts, including The Selfish Gene (1976) and The God Delusion (2006). Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Dawkins eventually graduated with a degree in zoology from Balliol College, Oxford, and then earned a masters degree and the doctorate from Oxford University. He has recently left his teaching duties to write and manage his foundation, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, full-time. 
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TRANSCRIPT:

Richard Dawkins: The first chapter of 'Science in the Soul' is called 'The Values of Science and the Science of Values'. And it does, of course, give prominence to objective truth. There is a kind of whispering campaign—more than a whispering campaign, sometimes a yelling campaign—against the value of objective truth. Science, I think, is committed to objective truth; we’re committed to the view that truth is independent of the cultural background of the scientist, for example. So as I said in the book, an experiment done in a lab in New York can be replicated in a lab in New Delhi, and if it’s all done correctly in the same way they’ll get the same result. Science’s belief in objective truth works. Engineering technology based upon the science of objective through achieves results: it manages to build planes that get off the ground, it manages to send people to the moon and explore Mars with robots, and land robotic vehicles on comets. Science works. Science produces antibiotics, it produces vaccines that work. So anybody who chooses to say, “Oh, there’s no such thing as objective truth, it’s all subjective, it’s all socially constructed,” tell that to a doctor, tell that to a space scientist.

Manifestly, science works and the view that “there is no such thing as objective truth” doesn’t. Science proceeds, I believe, in the sort of Popperian view that science proceeds by intuitive leaps of the imagination, building an idea of what might be true and then testing it by experiment, by observation, in the second phase. It’s a kind of Darwinian selection of mutation, which is provided by the imagination.

So intuition is very important, but it is important that scientists should not be so wedded to their intuition that they omit the very important testing phase, and if their hypothesis is disproved they should regard that as a reason to reject the hypothesis or modify it, not a reason to just carry on doggedly sticking to the hypothesis because they are intuitively committed to it.

The phrase 'critical thinking' is quite a cliché but it is immensely important. And so I think that I really could sum it up by saying what we need is critical thinking; we need to respect evidence, we need to respect the fact that the only reason to believe anything about the real world is evidence. The evidence must be assessed critically, preferably statistically and logically. You cannot derive truths about the real world by intuition alone, by feelings alone, by what feels good.

People who say things like, “All opinions are equally valid,” or, “Well, it’s true for me, it may not be true for you.” Never tolerate that kind of thing. The only reason to believe anything is true is that there’s evidence, and everybody should either look at the evidence for themselves or they should trust that the person they’re talking to has looked at the evidence in a scientific, logical, rational,...

[Gldkloud]

I was brought up in a Christian home. It feels as though I'm breaking some sort of mental coding, like that of a sleeper cell, to become an atheist. I have broken it, however. I cannot understand why Mr. Dawkins is not a more respected and well-known man. He helped me through a very tough time.

[sl]

How was everything created? What was before the BigBang?

Religion: Some powerful dude with magic and shit.
Science: We don't know yet, but we're working on it.

[freshybowl]

He coined the term “meme” in a book he wrote in the 70s called The Selfish Gene. He gave a sobering definition that is possibly more true today then it was when he wrote it.

[SystemFreaKk]

Faith = belief without evidence.
'Nuff said.

[Skinnybalto]

"Gods or goddesses or leprechauns" That's going to be my knew religion

[prathambabaria]

I don't think hell is going to be that hot; with all the scientists there, they surely must have reinvented air-conditioning.

[Thalanox]

Yep. There are 4 levels of knowing:
Knowing what you know,
Knowing what you don't know,
Not knowing what you know, and
Not knowing what you don't know.

That someone just moved from the 4th level to the 3rd level.

[andyman]

unicorn + leprechaun = lepricorn!
:O

[MuathGhrouz]

Faith is needed when you lack evidence.. Otherwise it would be called knowledge

[DaHazmo]

"What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence"
Pretty much sums it up

[FutureAIDev]

"I don't get it, therefore God." is my biggest beef with religious faith. It's a cheap cop-out of one's ability to investigate the world.

[iPhYzix]

tyomen If you need religion to teach you values and morals, then you truly lack empathy.

[KowBoySpace]

The irony of an advert being placed in this video beginning "This Ramadan..."

[PaladinswordSaurfang]

"...faith in gods or leprechauns or whatever it might be" I love how he says it so casually XD

[blerg]

I love Richard Dawkins. Such an intelligent human being and an outspoken man. And it pleases me to see that this video is generally liked and has so many views :)

[ricplay]

I think a valid question would be.. how do we define "evidence?"

Regardless of the conclusivity or lack thereof... its definetely academically irresponsible to say that religious belief is based on "no evidence at all."

Evidence is something that points to a proposition, whether or not that proposituon turns out to be true. Religuous belief is based on loads of evidence. Whether or not that evidence is substantive... is another issue.

Valid arguments have been made toward intelligent design and creationism of various sorts. If you don't accept them as true... fine ... but they are definitely not invalid.

[Modinthalis]

What kind of freedom is it when I am presented between two "choices": believe in me and love me or burn in hell forever for a thought crime that you cannot control? It's like the mafia coming to my shop and saying "Nice shop you have here, it would be a pity if it caught fire!".

[daniyalkaleem]

The word "Before " refers to a time period before a certain point in time. Since the space time began at the big bang thus there was no time before big bang.
As a result you can't say "before" big bang.

[RichieRichMD]

Faith is nothing more than making a virtue out of not thinking, civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last Church falls on the last priest. Thank you professor Dawkins for been a lit candle in a world obscure by delusion fallacy and neurosis.

[vtwintora]

Nothing wrong with having faith, to me it means your more rounded as a person, the word snob comes to mind, but we do need to question are faith from time to time and re adjust, he makes me do that. Always keep the faith, at all cost.