The Problem with Too Much Fidelity to the Modern Synthesis When Explaining the Origins and Evolution of the Social Universe

doi:10.1558/jcsr.35730

Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, Vol 4, No 1 (2016)

The Problem with Too Much Fidelity to the Modern Synthesis When Explaining the Origins and Evolution of the Social Universe

Jonathan H. Turner

Issued Date: 15 May 2018

Abstract

Religion emerged as a cognitive capacity and behavioral propensity by virtue of Darwinian natural selection on hominins and then humans to become more social and group oriented. The capacity to be religious is only a modest extension of the Darwinian selection on cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal propensities of all great apes and, hence, early hominins. However, other forms of natural selection need to be added to the explanation of why religion became institutionalized in early human societies, why religious organizations arise and die from competition, and why violence is so often a part of religious revolution. These additional types of natural selection do not obviate Darwinian selection on the human brain, but they become a necessary supplement to Darwinian analysis if the early institutionalization and subsequent evolution of religion are to be more fully explained.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £17.50 ) Restricted Access

DOI: 10.1558/jcsr.35730

References

Geertz, Armin W. 1999. “Definition as Analytical Strategy in the Study of Religion.” Historical Reflections/Reflexions Historiques 25(3): 445–475.

———. 2016. “Conceptions of Religion in the Cognitive Science of Religion.” In Contemporary Views on Comparative Religion in Celebration of Tim Jensen’s 65th Birthday, edited by Peter Antes, Armin W. Geertz and Mikael Rothstein, 127–139. Sheffield and Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing.

Jensen, Jeppe Sinding. 2017. “‘Religion Is the Word, but, What Is the Thing—If There Is One?’ On Generalized Interpretations and Epistemic Placeholders in the Study of Religion.” Historia Religionum. An International Journal 9: 17–28. https://doi.org/10.19272/201704901002

Stets, Jan E. and Jonathan H. Turner, eds. 2007. Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions. Dordrecht: Springer Science and Business Media.

———. 2014. Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions: Volume II. Dordrecht: Springer Science and Business Media.

Turner, Jonathan H. 1987. “Analytical Theorizing.” In Social Theory Today, edited by Anthony Giddens and Jonathan H. Turner, 156–194. Stanford, CAL: Standford University Press.

———. 2000. On the Origins of Human Emotions: A Sociological Inquiry into the Evolution of Human Affect. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

———. 2007. Human Emotions: Toward a Sociological Theory. Oxford UK: Routledge.

———. 2010a. Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 2 on Microdynamics. New York: Springer.

———. 2010b. Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 1 on Macrodynamics. New York: Springer.

———. 2012. Theoretical Principles of Sociology, Volume 3 on Mesodynamics. New York: Springer.

Turner, Jonathan H., Alexandra Maryanski, Anders Klostergaard Petersen and Armin W. Geertz. 2018. The Emergence and Evolution of Religion: By Means of Natural Selection. New York and London: Routledge.

Turner, Jonathan H. and Richard S. Machalek. 2018. The New Evolutionary Sociology: Recent and Revitalized Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. New York and London: Routledge.

Turner, Jonathan H. and Jan E. Stets. 2005. The Sociology of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819612

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: info@equinoxpub.com