Dear Richard Dawkins, are Fairy Tales Really Anti-scientific?
I have a lot of time for Richard Dawkins. Some of his interview techniques are a little overblown, as is his self-righteousness, but still, his writing about evolution is incredibly important. Charles Darwin’s daughter Annie died in my gran’s flat, so I’ve been interested in the subject for years. Evolution is possibly the most important and brilliant theory ever.
But really, Mr Dawkins, is there truly even the slightest chance that fairy tales might be anti-scientific? Could they really have an “insidious affect on rationality” for children? So say he…
“I think looking back to my own childhood, the fact that so many of the stories I read allowed the possibility of frogs turning into princes, whether that has a sort of insidious affect on rationality, I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s something for research.”
The way I see it, fairy tales breed imagination. They allow for flights of fancy, and ultimately without those there would be no leaps in scientific thought. You can be as rational as you like, but without imagination, there would be no theory of evolution, no theory of relativity. Really, could Einstein have come up with that totally bonkers, totally brilliant idea without an amazing imagination? I think not.
But anyway, I’m not a scientist, and although I subject my works to peer-group review, they will never cure cancer. They might, one day, pique the imagination of the person that does find the cure, however.
The Guardian also talks about this here!
Tags: darwin, einstein, Fairy Tales, richard dawkins
October 29th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Crikey, some of the stuff Dawkins comes up with…I believe that made-up stories help us think about stuff that we or others have experienced in a more abstract way.Stories make us think about patterns – and I even believe that children need stories they dislike and disagree with. They need to be annoyed as well as pleased… I bet Dawkins’ imagination was fired up early by getting cross about fairy stories!
I hope you’ll inspire a lot of children – with books they love
October 29th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Hello Viv!
I think you’re totally right. Abstract approaches to real events help make touchy issues easier and more palatable. It’s a way for a people to deal with issues. After all, the frog princess is surely a way of discussing beauty? Is it skin deep etc. I think he’s just taking his ‘children and religion’ argument a little too far!