Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion. Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study.” A curious statement indeed coming from one of the most prominent historians of religion, whose entire career and oeuvre [...]
Entries Tagged as 'group level selection'
Phylogeny of Religions
September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct
Tags:classification schemes·costly signaling·essentializing·F. Max Muller·group level selection·Imagining Religion: From Bablyon to Jonestown·increased fertility·Jonathan Z. Smith·moral glue·multilinear evolution·religious cartography·religious classification·religious history·religious phylogeny·religious taxonomy·ritual signaling·science of religion·social cohesion·unilinear evolution
Evolution of Altruism, Group Level Selection, and George Price
July 23rd, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism and Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Evolution and Selection, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as 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 [...]
Tags:altruism·cooperation·dove·evolution of religion·evolutionary theory·Fisher's theorem of natural selection·George Price·goodness·group level selection·group level selectionists·hawk·inclusive fitness·morphs·Oren Harman·Paleolithic·Razib Khan·Richard Dawkins·The Price of Altruism
Nationalism as Religion
July 20th, 2010 · No Comments · Civil Religion, Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Power and Religion, Recent and New Religions, Ritual and Religion
In a previous post, Religious Wars and Nationalism, I discussed two factors that play a major role in group cohesion. The first factor, which played a dominant role for the majority of human evolution, was extended and fictive kinship. This is what primarily held groups together during the Paleolithic. After the Neolithic Revolution, another factor [...]
Tags:Benedict Anderson·Blood Sacrifice and the Nation: Revisiting Civil Religion·Carolyn Marvin·Civil Religion·David Ingle·Durkheim·group cohesion·group identity·group level selection·guardians of faith·high priests·hymnals·Imagined Communities·kinship·liturgy·nationalism·Neolithic Revolution·Paleolithic·patriotism·patriots·religion·religiosity·religious violence·ritual leaders·ritual objects·Robert Bellah·sacred places·sacred texts·saints·temples·totemism·totems
Recent Human Evolution and Religion
July 6th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Cognition and Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Evolution and Selection, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct
Most anthropologists date the appearance of anatomically modern Homo sapiens to approximately 150,000 years ago. It was at about this time that the skeletal structure of Homo becomes indistinguishable from modern humans. This does not mean, however, that human evolution simply stopped; evolution encompasses changes not only to skeletal structures but also to brain chemistry, [...]
Tags:accelerated human evolution·anatomically modern Homo sapiens·cultural imprinting·cultural patterning·earliest organized religions·fertility selection·group level selection·John Hawks·Neolithic Revolution·recent adaptations·recent human evolution
Perfectly Designed: Bananas and Religion
July 4th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Evolution and Selection, History of Religions, Morality and Religion, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct, Ritual and Religion
In this classic video, Kirk Cameron explains — in all seriousness — how God perfectly and exquisitely designed the banana for human use and consumption:
Although the banana’s functional and optimal design features may not cause nightmares for those who understand that bananas evolved like all other plants and were domesticated (i.e., selected) by humans, they [...]
Tags:adaptationist programme·adaptationists·atheists·banana·bananas·creation·design·Dr. Pangloss·Eden·functionalism·group level selection·group level selectionists·Homo antecessor·Homo heidelbergensis·Kirk Cameron·morals·Paleolithic religion·Panglossian Paradigm·paradise·prosocial·rituals·spandrels
Non-Religious Chimpanzees Cooperate and War for Territory
June 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Cultural Evolution of Religion, Ecology of Religion, Economy and Religion, Evolution and Selection, History of Religions, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Neolithic Religions, Power and Religion, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct, Shamans and Shamanism
There have been many articles over the past week reporting that an unusually large group (150 members) of chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, Uganda has been engaging in systematic territorial expansion by attacking and killing neighboring groups. The Nature article notes that this is “cooperative behavior” and then quotes from the New York Times story:
These [...]
Tags:aggression·Blackfoot·Cheyenne·chimpanzees·chimps·city-states·cohesion·Comanche·cooperation·Cree·Crow·David Sloan Wilson·ecology·Egypt·Flathead·foragers·Gros Ventre·group level selection·Kibale National Park·kinship·Kiowa·Lakota·Levant·Matt Rossano·Mesopotamia·Nicholas Wade·Plains Indians·power·religion·religious warfare·Sarsi·shamans·Shoshoni·territoriality·The Faith Instinct·war
Homo Religiosus, Religion, and Fertility: A Conversation with Michael Blume
June 4th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Cognition and Religion, Ecology of Religion, Evolution and Selection, History of Religions, Hunter-Gatherers and Religion, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct, Shamans and Shamanism
I recently found an excellent blog, Homo religiosus — The Natural History of Religion, written by the German scholar Dr. Michael Blume. After I linked to his blog, Michael came over here for some reading. He also had a question, which I answered, and he responded. The issue we are discussing — higher fertility rates [...]
Tags:adaptive assumptions·cultural evolution·earliest religions·fertility·group level selection·Homo religiosus·hunter-gatherers·Michael Blume·Neolithic Revolution·Panglossian Paradigm·religion as adaptation·religion as byproduct·reproductive fitness·Richard Lewontin·Sarah Hrdy·shamanisms·shamans·spandrels·Stephen Jay Gould
Religious Syncretism — Christian Yoga and Tantric Sex
May 8th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, History of Religions, Pagans and Polytheism, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Ritual and Religion
Based on keyword searches leading people to this blog, it appears that many are interested in religious syncretism. With this in mind, I thought some comments would be in order. To kick things off let’s take note of two recent articles, each of which sheds some minor light on syncretism.
In the first, Lois Solomon of [...]
Tags:Christian yoga·ecumenical·group level selection·monotheism·polytheism·sex·syncretism·tantras
Where Are the “Groups” Essential to Group Level Selection and the Origins of Religion?
April 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Evolution and Selection, History of Religions, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation
Unfortunately, I am reading yet another book which claims that religion was specifically targeted by natural selection because it makes groups more prosocial and cohesive, thus giving them an advantage in warfare, etc. over other groups. The author claims, of course, that this explains the evolutionary origin of religion. Just so.
As is always the case [...]
“Morals” and Religion Evolved Independently
March 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Morality and Religion, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct
One of the more popular explanations for the origin of religion goes like this: (1) humans are social animals that live in groups; (2) those groups that have higher levels of cooperation are more successful than other groups; (3) the primary reason that some groups are more successful than others is because they are more [...]