The Selfish Gene The Selfish Gene The Selfish Gene is a 1976 book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, in which the author builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's "Adaptation and Natural Selection" (1966). Dawkins uses the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the views focused on the organism and the group, popularising ideas developed during the 1960s by W. D. Hamilton and others. From the gene-centred view, it follows that the more two individuals are genetically related, the more sense (at the level of the genes) it makes for them
The Selfish Gene and Natural Selection" (1966), which argued that altruism is not based upon group benefit "per se", but is a result of selection that occurs "at the level of the gene mediated by the phenotype" and any selection at the group level occurred only under rare circumstances. This approach was developed further during the 1960s by W. D. Hamilton and others who opposed group selection and selection aimed directly at benefit to the individual organism: Despite the principle of 'survival of the fittest' the ultimate criterion which determines whether [a gene] "G" will spread is not whether the behavior is to