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John Maynard Smith
A biologist who believes, like Dawkins, Maynard Smith, Trivers, Fisher, and Williams, that evolution happens to genes, and not species. Dawkins borrows from Hamilton, the rhetorical device of personifying the gene to explain its behavior. Both scientists imagine that genes act as if on purpose, meaning genes can be described with metaphors like “selfish” or “cooperating,” when in reality genes are not conscious in that way. This rhetorical device enables Dawkins to explain evolution from a hypothetical “gene’s eye view.” Dawkins also borrows Hamilton’s method of calculating the genetic relatedness between two individuals.
William (Bill) D. Hamilton Quotes in The Selfish Gene
The The Selfish Gene quotes below are all either spoken by William (Bill) D. Hamilton or refer to William (Bill) D. Hamilton. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 12 Quotes
I agree with Axelrod and Hamilton that many wild animals and plants are engaged in ceaseless games of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, played out in evolutionary time.
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William (Bill) D. Hamilton Character Timeline in The Selfish Gene
The timeline below shows where the character William (Bill) D. Hamilton appears in The Selfish Gene. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Preface to the First Edition
...evolve. These “gene’s eye view” scientists are George C. Williams, John Maynard Smith, William D. Hamilton, and Robert L. Trivers.
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Chapter 6: Genesmanship
...the altruism between family members happens in proportion to their shared genes, so he uses Hamilton’s research. Hamilton worked out a system for calculating the odds of two individuals sharing genes....
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...Wilson, for example, thinks kin selection is a special kind of group selection. Dawkins disagrees. Hamilton’s research shows that it doesn’t matter so much exactly how two people are related. What...
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Chapter 10: You Scratch My Back, I’ll Ride on Yours
...makes good “selfish” sense, since it makes catching prey easier. Dawkins borrows another explanation from Hamilton, who thinks that running as a herd also has selfish motivations. Animals on the edge...
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...but selfish behavior. This division of labor keeps all their genes in the gene pool. Hamilton discovered that “the Hymenoptera” (insects including ants, bees, and wasps) determine sex differently. Unfertilized eggs...
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Chapter 12: Nice Guys Finish First
...This is the individual who engages in “reciprocal altruism.” Dawkins agrees with Robert Axelrod and Hamilton that many wild animals are “engaged in ceaseless games of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, played out...
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Epilogue to 40th Anniversary Edition
...He uses the definition of “gene” created by Williams (also used by Maynard Smith and Hamilton). Williams defines the gene as “any portion of chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough...
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...live on for millions of years in the form of exact copies of themselves. Bill Hamilton calculated genetic relatedness by thinking about how much more related one is to kin than...
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