Stuart Lancaster's first selection as head coach is a much changed one and flanker Dowson is one of three starters set to make their England debut, Dickson one of five further uncapped players on the bench.
Foden and Ashton retain their starting berths in the back three, while Saints skipper Hartley packs down at hooker in the first game of England's Six Nations title defence.
Lancaster is happy that his side are up for the challenge despite the number of changes made from their last competitive outing.
"We have been impressed with how the whole group has come together in the last 10 days and we have done a lot of work on and off the field," he said.
"Now is the time to turn all that into a performance against Scotland that we can all be proud of. It is a massive challenge - Murrayfield, the first game of the Six Nations - but one we are relishing."
The game kicks off at 5pm on Saturday, almost immediately after the Saints take on Wasps in the LV= Cup at Franklin's Gardens. And you can make sure you don't miss a minute of the action by sticking around at Franklin's Gardens and cheering on the England Saints with your fellow black, green and gold supporters on big screens in the Rodber Bar.
ENGLAND SIDE TO FACE SCOTLAND
SIX NATIONS 2012
Murrayfield
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
5pm
15 Ben Foden (Northampton Saints)
14 Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13 Brad Barritt (Saracens)
12 Owen Farrell (Saracens)
11 David Strettle (Saracens)
10 Charlie Hodgson (Saracens)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
1 Alex Corbisiero (London Irish)
2 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers)
4 Mouritz Botha (Saracens)
5 Tom Palmer (Stade Francais)
6 Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers)
7 Chris Robshaw (Harlequins) (capt)
8 Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)
Replacements
16 Rob Webber (London Wasps)
17 Matt Stevens (Saracens)
18 Geoff Parling (Leicester Tigers)
19 Ben Morgan (Scarlets)
20 Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)
21 Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
22 Mike Brown (Harlequins)
