Dawkins at a loss to explain

Atheist Richard Dawkins' autobiography is out Part 1. See here. An extract from it contains observations on prep school and these interesting lines.

 

"I cannot even begin to imagine how human beings could be so cruel, but to a greater or lesser extent we were, if only through failing to stop it. How could we be so devoid of empathy? I didn’t lift a finger to stop the grotesque bullying. ... I don’t recall feeling even secret pity for the victim of the bullying at Chafyn Grove. How is that possible?

These contradictions trouble me to this day, together with a strong feeling of retrospective guilt. I am struggling to reconcile the child with the adult that he became; and the same struggle, I suspect, arises with most people. This is no place for a philosophical disquisition, so I will content myself with the observation that continuity of memory makes me feel as though my identity has remained continuous during my whole life, while I simultaneously feel incredulous that I am the same person as the young empathy-failure."

 

A right understanding of total depravity would no doubt help but Dawkins has rejected such thinking.