Free essay on rhetorical analysis - richard dawkins’ the magic of reality

Richard Dawkins is one of the foremost evolutionary biologists in popular culture, and is an ardent champion in the proliferation of science-based atheism and criticism of religion. In his book The Magic of Reality, Dawkins explores the logic and reasoning behind the lack of existence of a God, and denounces the use of religion as an outdated practice that is no longer needed in today’s scientific age. In order to do so, Dawkins reframes the concepts of magic, miracles and reality in more scientific frameworks, rather than the metaphysical concepts of religion. In The Magic of Reality, Dawkins’ sense of clear logic and scientific reasoning provides a compelling case for the adoption of the theory of evolution as a universal truth, while arguing against religious explanations as invalid and, in many cases, potentially harmful.
Dawkins’ approach to the concept of reality is central to his arguments in The Magic of Reality. According to Dawkins, people often define reality by what they can see or touch, or otherwise detect with the five senses provided to human beings – these are essentially the only ways to ensure that what we are experiencing is real. However, this does not explain intangible realities such as radio waves, atoms or bacteria; Dawkins explains that people simply assume the existence of these things first, then follow it up with experiments (using the rigorous scientific method) in order to prove whether or not these hypotheses are supported by their observations. Only through the proven use of the scientific method does Dawkins assert that things are ‘ real’ – however, he also asserts that what may appear to be the supernatural, the mystical, or ‘ magical’ may simply be things that have not yet been discovered by scientific process. In this way, Dawkins explains the way people believe in the supernatural as being from a divine force, rather than as the much-more-sensible scientific source from which it may well originate.
Dawkins’ use of the words magic and miracle helps to connect his arguments about science and logic with the illogic of religion and fairy tales. Religious explanations are not sufficient, according to Dawkins, because they simply tell the individual what causes a phenomena, rather than inspire them to find out for themselves. This goes against the humanist and scientific principles that Dawkins asserts – there is no way to trust that whatever sources told you that things happen by magic is telling the truth; there have to be ways to find the process by which it happens. In the case of the theory of evolution, Dawkins argues that religious explanations for the origins of life presume a conclusion and do not investigate further, whereas evolution is backed by sound scientific theory and is something that can be tangible investigated. In this way, Dawkins shows the intellectually transparent and weak nature of religious explanations, showing the greater trustworthiness of scientific explanations for the mystical
In The Magic of Reality, Richard Dawkins utilizes sound scientific theory and logical reasoning to explain his preference for scientific inquiry over religious mysticism and the supernatural. According to him, the magical nature of life and the things we cannot explain are merely scientific discoveries we have not discovered yet; however, by subscribing to religious arguments, people are not even given the chance to investigate for themselves how and why something magical happens. This leads to a much more inaccurate and incurious view of the world that Dawkins soundly criticizes, encouraging a greater focus on logic and science.