Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 21:02, 16 January 2008

Every religious system has its own particular creation myths. In more recent times scientists have began looking for secular reasons for the ubiquitous presence religious behavior. In the early part of the 20th century, scholars such as Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud provided a number of psychological and sociological theories for the origins and roles of religion. In the last few decades, advances in various fields have enabled scientists to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the origin of religion. Studies have drawn from fields such as archeology, anthropology, the evolutionary sciences, genetics and neuroscience.

Exactly when humans first became religious still remains unknown. One view holds that human religiosity is a recent phenomenon in human evolution. Proponents of this view hold humans began practicing religion some time around the transition from the middle paleolithic to the upper paleolithic between 50,000-30,000 years ago. At the other extreme are scholars who hold that the religious mind has been gradually evolving over millions of years. The scholars who hold this view contend that even extinct hominids such as the Neanderthals may have practiced some form of religion.

Evolutionary psychology, a field that has developed recently and has had some success in explaining some of the peculiarities of human behavior, has been applied to the study of the origin of religion.

Universality of religion

Any theory that tries to explain the origin of religion must account for universality of religion among past and present human societies. Religious behaviour varies widely between the world's cultures, but in its widest sense is a cultural universal that is found in all human populations. Such universals include:

• a notion of the transcendent, supernatural or numinous, often involving entities like ghosts, demons or deities, and practices involving magic and divination.
• a cultural or behavioural aspect of ritual and liturgy, almost invariably involving music and dance
• societal norms of morality (ethos) and virtue (arete)
• a set of myths or sacred truths or beliefs

Even the most isolated populations that have existed have been found to practice some form of religion. For example, when European sailors first arrived on the island of Tasmania, they found the Tasmanians, already possessed highly elaborate forms of religion and myth. The Tasmanians may have been isolated from the rest of the world since settling from Australia 40,000 years ago. Hence scholars often view such isolated populations as a window into life in the past up to 40,000 years ago,

Religiosity in human evolution

At some stage during evolution, humans developed a religious mind. However since much of human history is unrecorded, scientists have had to resort to indirect methods to learn when humans became religious. These methods include studying the human fossil record and studying the behavior of other social species.

The role of cognition

There is general consensus that the evolution of religion was related to the evolution of human cognition and language. Religious thoughts require cognitive abilities that include self consciousness, a capacity for abstract thought and an awareness of life and death. Religion also requires a system of symbolic communication because it is the only way religious truths can be transferred from one individual to another. No other species are known to clearly exhibit these traits except humans.

The Religious mind is consequently a result of the large brain of humans. During human evolution, brain size almost quadrupled from the time of the human-chimpanzee joint ancestor. Human brain size peaked about 500,000 years ago and has since shrunk slightly. In fact, the brain of Homo erectus does overlap with modern humans who are at the lower end. However the relationship between brain size and cognition is not clear cut. Even though Neanderthals had larger brains than humans, they did not leave any incontrovertible signs of symbolism nor did they leave evidence of sophisticated tool use.

Abstract thought and imagination are of significant importance to the study of religion. This is because Gods and many other spiritual beings are abstract concepts. In many religions Gods are anthropomorphic, which is the tendency to view Gods as having human humanlike characteristics. For example, according to the Abrahamic faiths, God made man in his own image. However the ancient Greeks had realized that actually man had the tendency to create Gods in his own image. These facts underscore the importance of abstraction and imagination in the evolution of religion. It is for these reasons that archeologists search for artifacts in the fossil record that indicate a capacity for abstraction. It is generally believed that the creatively designed stone and bone tools, artwork and the ritual burials of the Upper paleolithic constitute cognitive abilities consistent with a religious mind. Many of these tools such as harpoons or needles are not naturally occuring objects. Their construction require first creating a mental image in the mind before actually making artifact. Hence the manufacture of these tools represents the capacity to imagine gods and other spiritual beings that are not naturally ocurring.

Language and religion

Religion requires a system of symbolic communication such as language to be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states "human religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base," From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade states:

"Like most behaviors that are found in societies throughout the world, religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago. Although religious rituals usually involve dance and music, they are also very verbal, since the sacred truths have to be stated. If so, religion, at least in its modern form, cannot pre-date the emergence of language. It has been argued earlier that language attained its modern state shortly before the exodus from Africa. If religion had to await the evolution of modern, articulate language, then it too would have emerged shortly before 50,000 years ago. "

Primate studies

Humans do share a common ancestor with the great apes such as chimpanzees and bonobos. This common ancestor lived over six million years ago. Hence some scholars view chimpanzees and bonobos as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. Firstly, the great apes demonstrate a high level of intelligence relative to other species. Some apes such as Kanzi and Washoe have demonstrated a capacity for symbolic communication and even the ability to understand some simple English. Secondly, the great ape social interactions also demonstrate a relatively high level of complexity. Ape social interactions have been observed to be based on rudimentary forms of social norms. Chimpanzees have on occasion been observed to exhibit prolonged and complex behaviors towards a dead social partner, behavior that has been describe as mournful. King ascribes to the concept of continuity, that the difference between humans and apes is one of degree and not kind.

Middle Paleolithic burials

Most animals display only a casual interest in the dead of their own species. Lions, for example, might sniff or lick a dead member of its own species before proceeding to devour the body. Humans are therefore unique in their treatment of the dead. Ritual burial thus represents a significant advancement in human behavior. Ritual burial represent an awareness of life and death and a possible belief in the afterlife. Philip Lieberman states "burials with grave goods clearly signify religious practices and concern for the dead that transcends daily life". The earliest evidence for treatment of the dead comes from Atapuerca in spain. At this location the bones of 30 individuals believed to be Homo heidelbergensis have been found in a pit.

Neanderthals are also contenders for the first homonids to intentionally bury the dead. They may have placed corpses into shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. The presence of these grave goods may indicate an emotional connection with the deceased and possibly a belief in the afterlife. Neanderthal burial sites include Shanidar in Iraq and Krapina in Croatia and Kebara Cave in Israel. Yet, these burials have been disputed by other scholars who argue that the bodies may have been disposed of for other reasons other than intentional burial. The earliest known burial of modern humans is from a cave in Israel located at Qafzeh. Human remains have been dated to 100,000 years ago. Human skeletons were found stained with red ochre. A variety of grave goods were found at the burial site. The mandible of a wild boar was found placed in the arms of one of the skeletons. Philip Lieberman states:

Burial rituals incorporating grave goods may have been invented by the anatomically modern hominids who emigrated from Africa to the Middle East 100,000 years ago.

Big bang hypothesis

According to this view, religion along with other symbolic behaviors emerged as a result of a punctuated event such as a monster mutation some time around 50,000 years ago. This mutation would have been the catalyst for the transition from the middle paleolithic to upper paleolithic technology. This view holds that humans before this mutation, lacked the capicity for religion. Proponents of this view hold that the evidence from the middle paleolithic of religious behavior, such as Neanderthal burials, is not conclusive enough to prove the existence of religious beliefs. . For example Steven Mithen states:

"Many of the new behaviors I have been describing such as the anthropomorphic images, cave paintings and the burial of people with grave goods, suggest that these Upper Paleolithic people were the first to have beliefs in supernatural beings and possibly an afterlife. We are indeed seeing the first appearance of religious ideology"

"We cannot reconstruct the religious ideologies of the earliest Upper Paleolithic societies. But we can be confident that religious ideologies as complex as those of modern hunter gatherers came into being at the time of the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition and have remained with us ever since."

Continuity hypothesis

The big bang hypothesis is contrasted with the continuity theory. This view holds that religion did not emerge suddenly 50,000 years as a result of a genetic mutation. This entails that the roots of religion have a much longer history. Proponents of this view cite the burials occuring in the middle paleolithic can only be explained by religious beliefs.They note that during the Middle Stone Age, 100,000 years ago human in Africa had already began to exploit copious amounts of red ocher, which is of no practical importance other than for the use in symbolic rituals. Continuty theorists believe the abundance of symbolic artifacts occurring during the upper paleolithic are mainly the result of incremental cultural accumulation that began several thousands of years earlier.

Neolithic religions

Until the Neolithic revolution 11,000 years ago all humans around the world lived as semi-nomadic hunter gatherers. The population density of hunter gather societies is relatively low. The invention of agriculture led to dramatic social changes to human societies around the world. Population densities increased significantly with a corresponding rise in technological development. Religion was significantly affected by these changes. Hunter gatherers religions are normally associated with animism, shamanism and ancestor worship. However the following the Neolithic revolution, religion became institutionalized. A major technological advance that had a major impact on religion was the invention of writing 4000 years ago.Some scientists regard the Pyramid Texts from ancient Egypt as the oldest know religious texts in the world dating to between 3300 to 3150 BCE. . It is these factors that led to the development of the world religions during the Axial Age.

Evolutionary psychology of religion

There is general agreement among cognitive scientists that religion is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved early in human history. However, there is disagreement on the exact mechanisms that drove the evolution of the religious mind. There are two schools of thought. One is that religion evolved due to natural selection, in which case religion conferred some sort of evolutionary advantage. Proponents of this hypothesis argue for a strong genetic component to religion and that these genes were subject to natural selection. The other hypothesis posits that religion is an evolutionary byproduct, a neurological accident. Stephen Jay Gould was a proponent of this hypothesis. He believed that religion was an exaptation or a Spandral. That is religion evolved as byproduct of psychological mechanisms that were designed for other purposes.. One popular by-product theory is the "predator agency" or "Hyperactive agency detection device" which posits that religious imagination arose as a result of ever detection of predatory threats.

Genetics

Some scholars have suggested that religion is hardwired into the human condition. Dean Hamer, has put forward the God gene hypothesis. Hamer proposes that some human beings bear a gene which gives them a predisposition to episodes interpreted by some as religious revelation. One gene identified is VMAT2. A number of scientists and researcher though are highly critical of this theory; Carl Zimmer, writing in Scientific American, points out that Hamer rushed into print with this book before publishing his results in a credible scientific journal. In his book, Hamer backs away from the title and main hypotheses of his book by saying "Just because spirituality is partly genetic doesn't mean it is hardwired,"

See also

• God gene
• development of religion
• history of religion
• Anthropology of religion
• Homology (anthropology)
• Evolutionary psychology of religion

footnotes

1. "The Prehistory of the Mind The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science By [[Steven Mithen]] Reviewed by Andy Gorman" (PDF). there are many fields of study that can contribute to the discussion of the human mind. These include psychologists, philosophers, neurologists,primatologists, biological anthropologists, social anthropologists, and computer scientists. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
2. Donald. Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition. pp. page 206. ISBN 0674644840. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
3. Ehrlich, Paul. Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. pp. page 214. ISBN 155963779X. Religious ideas can be traced to the evolution of brains large enough to make possible the kind of abstract thought necessary to formulate religious and philosophical ideas {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
4. Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. ISBN 0465006965.
5. Six impossible things before breakfast, The evolutionary origins of belief. ISBN 0393064492. with regard to hafted tools, One would have to understand that the two pieces serve different purposes, and imagine how the tool could be used,
6. Wolpert, Lewis. Six impossible things before breakfast, The evolutionary origins of belief. p. page 82. ISBN 0393064492. Belief in cause and effect has had the most enormous effect on human evolution, both physical and cultural. Tool use, with language, has transformed human evolution and let to what we now think of as belief {{cite book}}: |page= has extra text (help)
7. ^ Lieberman (1991). Uniquely Human. ISBN 0674921836. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
8. *"Wade, Nicholas - Before The Dawn, Discovering the lost history of our ancestors. Penguin Books, London, 2006. p. 8 p. 165" ISBN 1594200793
9. Gods and Gorillas
10. King, Barbara (2007). Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion. Doubleday Publishing." ISBN 0385521553.
11. Excerpted from Evolving God by Barbara J. King
12. Elephants may pay homage to the dead
13. Greenspan, Stanley. THow Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved from Early Primates to Modern Human. ISBN 0306814498.
14. "The Neanderthal dead:exploring mortuary variability in Middle Palaeolithic Eurasia" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
15. ^ Evolving in their graves: early burials hold clues to human origins - research of burial rituals of Neanderthals
16. "BBC article on the Neanderthals". Neanderthals buried their dead, and one burial at Shanidar in Iraq was accompanied by grave goods in the form of plants. All of the plants are used in recent times for medicinal purposes, and it seems likely that the Neanderthals also used them in this way and buried them with their dead for the same reason. Grave goods are an archaeological marker of belief in an afterlife, so Neanderthals may well have had some form of religious belief. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
17. ^ . Uniquely Human page 163
18. "Human Uniqueness and Symbolization". This 'coding of the non-visible' through abstract, symbolic thought, enabled also our early human ancestors to argue and hold beliefs in abstract terms. In fact, the concept of God itself follows from the ability to abstract and conceive of 'person'
19. The Prehistory of the Mind The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science By Steven Mithen Reviewed by Andy Gorman
20. The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science. Thames & Hudson. 1996. ISBN 0-500-05081-3.
21. An overview of the patterns of behavioural change in Africa and Eurasia during the Middle and Late Pleistocene
22. Budge, Wallis. An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Literature. pp. page 9. ISBN 0486295028. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
23. The beginning of religion at the begining of the Neolithic
24. A scientific exploration of how we have come to believe in God
25. Toward an evolutionary psychology of religion and personality
26. The evolutionary psychology of religion Steven Pinker
27. Religious thought and behaviour as by-products of brain function Pascal Boyer
28. Hamer, Dean (2005). The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired Into Our Genes. Anchor Books. ISBN 0385720319.
29. Hamer, Dean H. 2004. The God gene how faith is hardwired into our genes. New York: Doubleday. Pages 211-12.

References

• "King, Barbara (2007). Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion. Doubleday Publishing." ISBN 0385521553.
• Excerpted from Evolving God by Barbara J. King
• "Wade, Nicholas - Before The Dawn, Discovering the lost history of our ancestors. Penguin Books, London, 2006. p. 8 p. 165" ISBN 1594200793
• (1996) The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05081-3.
• The Prehistory of the Mind The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science By Steven Mithen Reviewed by Andy Gorman

Further reading

• Is God in our Genes
• Dean H. Hamer, " The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired Into Our Genes" 2005 Anchor Books ISBN 0385720319
• is do unto others written in our genes
• Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology Wentzel Van Huyssteen Published 2006 Eerdmans Books for Young Readers ISBN 0802832466
• chapter 5 Alone in the World? Human Uniqueness in Science and Theology
• Archaeology, Ritual, Religion By Timothy Insoll ISBN 0415253128

Template:Religion-related topics