Philosophical Speculations Concerning a Posthuman Future (2021) (original) (raw)
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The evolution of religion and the (unfulfilled) promise of a sociological contribution
Religion, brain and behavior, 2018
Petersen, and Geertz collectively author a brilliant and compelling narrative of religious transformation historically ranging from our great ape and hominoid ancestors into the modern era through a framework of evolutionary theory. They argue that in order to understand the origins and transformations of an institution like religion, the evolutionary model itself must be expanded to include not just the evolving biology of our human and great ape ancestors, but also to include a wider range of evolutionary models-particularly, models that map corollary evolution among human social institutions. "Superorganisms" the nomenclature of these human social institutions, religion especiallythese also evolve in step with human biology, and given the capacities for cognitive choices, courtesy of the expanded human neocortex in full swing with the advent of homo sapiens, these human institutions follow somewhat different evolutionary models than standard Darwinian natural selection. Thus, if we want to understand how religion came about and indeed how it transformed up through today, applying the additional four adapted evolutionary models they give us-namely Spencerian Type 1 and Type 2 models, a Durkheimian Evolutionary model, and a Marxian Evolutionary modelapplying these alongside principles of Darwinian natural selection can produce a fuller, more satisfying picture of just how it is that humans came to develop religion. This is a big picture book, as was Robert Bellah's Religion in Human Evolution, to whom they dedicate the book. As such, it is a project to offer a more interdisciplinary, comprehensive account, one that they acknowledge will likely get pushback from biologists, and others, in part because of the audacity of interdisciplinary mixing. They offer some effort towards justifying the expansion to sociology; to counter the criticism that these models diverge from the principles of biological evolution, they astutely note that some of the frameworks of evolution in Darwin rides on the heels of Herbert Spencer's conceptualization of evolution, in which he incorporates society and Spencer, in fact, coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" a full eight years before Darwin's monumental On the Origin of the Species. A big argument of this book is that religion is not something that Darwinian natural selection selected for in order to make humans more fit to survive. That is, we are not hardwired to be religious. Rather, Darwinian natural selection operated to select for group bonding among early hominins who needed greater social orientation than their great ape ancestors, as the early precursors of humans left the forests for the more precarious open plains. As natural selection expanded the brain size of humans, it also operated to develop in humans a heightened emotional capacity, to facilitate the needed permanency for human bonding in the social structure of the nuclear family (p. 134). They point out (pp. 82-84) that the use of subcortical areas of the brain made humans more emotional and able to bond emotionally, to survive in the new environment outside the forest canopy and with this not just the neocortex develops, but the amygdala as well becomes twice as big in size and the size in the lateral nucleus demonstrates more neurons. The shorthand for this, as many will know, is that the amygdala is associated with fear and threats, and also for affiliation and social CONTACT Loriliai Biernacki
2008
Written accessibly and with verve and spirit, these books follow no uniform prescription but set out to engage and challenge the broadest range of readers, from undergraduates to postgraduates, university teachers and general readers-all those, in short, interested in ongoing debates and controversies in the humanities and social sciences.
The Future of Religion: Human Life -Education-Spirituality
Social Science Research Network, 2021
The Future of Religion: Human Life-Education-Spirituality Only when man has developed not merely a fellow-feeling with all men, but a dominant sense of unity and commonality, only when he is aware of them not merely as brothers,that is fragile bund,-but as parts of himself, only when he has learned to live, not in his separate personal and communal ego-sense, but in a large universal consciousness, can the phenomenon of war, with whatever weapons, pass out of his life without possibility of return.
Religion: The Dynamics of Cultural Adaptations
Critical and Constructive Essays, 2014
The goal of science is to achieve a level of understanding which not only explains current observations but also allows us to make predictions. Can science provide this kind of understanding of religion? Can it allow us to predict how holding beliefs categorized as "religious" is likely to affect people's lives, how these effects are likely to play out in the future or how religion itself will change? Despite its interdisciplinary nature, research in cognitive science cannot by itself provide this kind of practical understanding. In this chapter, we will argue that a broader approach, which includes insights gained through studies of cognition, can allow us to develop theories of how changes in the social environment people that experience bring about religious change and changes in the values that govern their lives. Cognitive scientists observe and develop theories about how individual brains process information. However, as Purzycki, Haque and Sosis (this volume) suggest, gaining a practical understanding of how human minds process information, requires that we take into account that fact that humans process information socially as well as within their own individual minds. The human brain is equipped with an array of psychological mechanisms which allow us to share the processing of information during social interactions. As children we acquire a large repertoire of cognitive skills, emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors from the older people who care for us, not just as a result of the genetic endowment from our parents. As we go through life we observe our environment in the presence of other minds. We observe people around us and are aware that they can observe us. We use our unique communication system, language, to discuss perceptions, behaviors, the mental representations that appear to motivate behaviors and many other aspects of our shared lives. The individual and social information processing mechanisms are intricately interconnected and continuously feedback on each other. We share thoughts and create ideas together. We are often not aware if our beliefs about an event are based on our witnessing of the event or the stories told by our fellow witnesses (Loftus, 1996). We will argue that, to gain an understanding of how minds develop the beliefs, values, and behaviors categorized as "religious," it is necessary to take into the account that this development occurs in minds that are situated within social networks. Our argument begins with an explanation of why we see cultural change as a "Darwinian process." We then proceed to review of recent work in comparative primatology and human development which suggests that children are adapted to acquire a vast amount of relatively unconstrained information by imitation and teaching and that humans are able and motivated to "change their minds" throughout their lives. Like all aspects of human culture, religious beliefs can be thought of as being "held" both by the community and the minds of the community members in which the information is actually experienced and stored. Like all aspects of culture, religious beliefs and customs, don't remain static. The culture of a population
Tracing the Origin and Nature of Religion in Human Consciousness
California Institute of Integral Studies, Academia, 2022
Calling forth, thinking upon, and discussing an essential spiritual reality of our existence perhaps hold the key to our necessary and imminent global transformation as a species. Exploration of the nature of religion as a survival mechanism of the species.
Religion: Its Origins, Social Role and Sources of Variation
Open Journal of Philosophy, vol. 10(3), pp. 346-367, 2020
Religion emerged among early humans because both purposive and non-purposive explanations were being employed but understanding was lacking of their precise scope and limits. Given also a context of very limited human power, the resultant foregrounding of agency and purposive explanation expressed itself in religion's marked tendency towards anthropomorphism and its key role in legitimizing behaviour. The inevitability of death also structures the religious outlook; with ancestors sometimes assigned a role in relation to the living. Subjective elements such as the experience of dreams and the internalization of moral precepts also play their part. Two important sources of variation among religions concern the adoption of a dualist or non-dualist perspective, and whether or not the religion's early political experience is such as to generate a systematic doctrine subordinating politics to religion. The near ubiquity and endurance of religion are further illuminated by analysis of its functions and ideological role. Religion tends to be socially conservative but has the potential to be revolutionary.