Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'altruism'

Altruistic Infants Aren’t Little Devils

January 4th, 2012 · 3 Comments · Evolution, Morality

Someone forgot to tell a group of 15-month-old infants they are flawed and that without proper (religious or moral) instruction, they will be unfair and selfish. Rather than being born this way, they appear to have been born another way: with built-in expectations of fairness and a willingness to share. These are the conclusions reached [...]

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Altruism in Religionless Rats

December 9th, 2011 · 5 Comments · Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, Morality

No one who has ever kept rats as pets (as I have) will be surprised by a study that appeared in yesterday’s Science and is getting major media coverage. In “Empathy and Pro-Social Behavior in Rats,” the authors report:
Whereas human pro-social behavior is often driven by empathic concern for another, it is unclear whether [...]

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Humans Naturally But Rarely Cooperative

September 13th, 2011 · 6 Comments · Morality

A recent press release from Washington University in St. Louis touts a new book, Origins of Altruism and Cooperation, edited by anthropologist Robert Sussman: “The book’s authors argue that humans are naturally cooperative, altruistic and social, only reverting to violence when stressed, abused, neglected or mentally ill.”

Because stress, abuse, neglect, and illness are [...]

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Contra Deus ex Machina

July 30th, 2011 · 16 Comments · Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, Morality

In Ars Poetica (“The Art of Poetry”), the great Roman lyricist Horace counsels against using gods to resolve thorny plots. The deus ex machina is simply too tidy and unbelievable. When gods swoop in to save the day, the mundane becomes sacred. Metaphysics to the rescue.

I was reminded of Horace’s enduring wisdom by two recent [...]

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Tricksters, Selfishness & Altruism

April 16th, 2011 · 4 Comments · Evolution, Evolutionary Byproduct, Hunter-Gatherers, Philosophy

In evolutionary biology, few issues have caused more debate than altruism or what appears to be altruism. It is generally accepted that selection operates on individual organisms and that these organisms are selfishly interested in their own survival and reproduction. Another way of stating this is that individual organisms are interested solely in passing along [...]

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Proto-Religious Foragers v. Non-Religious Foragers

February 9th, 2011 · 3 Comments · Archaeology, Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, Hunter-Gatherers

In a recent post on group level selection and the evolution of religion, I observed that if we assume such selection was operating on human groups during the Paleolithic, three factors play a major role in determining which groups come out on top. These three factors are: (1) group size, (2) technology, and (3) language. [...]

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Group Level Selection? The Non-Evolution of Religion

January 16th, 2011 · 15 Comments · Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct, History, Ritual

There are a number of scholars who claim that “religion” evolved as an adaptation.  What kind of adaptation? A group level adaptation. The story usually goes like this: at some unknown time during the middle or upper Paleolithic, certain groups of hominins developed proto-religious beliefs. These beliefs, which are rarely if ever specified, somehow gave [...]

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An Evolutionary History of Compassion

October 6th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Archaeology, Cognition, Emotions, Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct

A new book, The Prehistory of Compassion, is generating a fair amount of press coverage.  The title has a familiar ring to it and seemingly riffs Steven Mithen’s The Prehistory of the Mind.  I would not be surprised if this is the case, given that Mithen and the authors are UK archaeologists with Cambridge connections.  [...]

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Evolution of Altruism, Group Level Selection, and George Price

July 23rd, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Adaptation, Evolutionary Byproduct

Over at Discover, Razib Khan has reviewed Oren Harman’s new book The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness.  It is fantastic review and I encourage you to read it.  Price was many things, including a theoretical evolutionary biologist with considerable mathematical skills.  As Razib explains:
George Price’s aim was [...]

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Sunday Sundries — Spiritual Odds and Religious Ends

June 6th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age, Cognition, Cultural Evolution, Daily Devolutions, History, Morality, Ritual

As usual, lots of weird news from religion land.  Let’s start with this AP report about a Baptist minister in St. Cloud, MN who paid for a newspaper ad stating that Muslims “seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs and by supporting the gay agenda.”
This minister clearly knows nothing [...]

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