Unbelievable? Classic: Richard Dawkins & Rowan Williams debate the question of Human Nature and our ultimate origins
Feb 17, 2026
Sir Anthony Kenny, agnostic philosopher who frames the debate; Rowan Williams, former Archbishop and theologian; Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and author. They clash over human distinctiveness, whether Darwinian evolution explains consciousness and moral truth, the origins of life and language, the probability of a creator, and whether scientific elegance or theological meaning best explains our origins.
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Against A Ghost In The Machine
- Richard Dawkins clarifies he is not a genetic determinist but leans to physicalist determinism.
- He accepts emergence but rejects a ghostly homunculus as the source of decisions.
Brains Built For Survival Yield Abstract Thought
- Dawkins and Williams agree evolution can produce minds capable of science and abstract thought.
- Dawkins notes the brain's problem-solving niche may yield emergent higher capacities like math and philosophy.
Language Could Arise From Few Genetic Steps
- Recursive syntax appears uniquely human and may hinge on a few key genetic changes.
- Dawkins suggests a possible relatively sudden genetic step enabling language capacity.