I am looking at what Dawkins says both as a philosopher and as an evolutionary biologist myself.

You are correct that “selfish” is, and has always been, metaphorical. But no, when he talks about genes Dawkins really means genes. He is on record as rejecting much that comes from the field of epigenetics.

The reason it’s increasingly difficult to give Dawkins the benefit of the doubt is that he has been caught in sloppy or incorrect use of philosophical language many times. At some point you have to conclude that the guy really doesn’t think too straight, when it comes to philosophy at least.