Evolutionary Synthesis Essay: The Predisposition To Religion

Improved Essays
Religion is always found on the side of culture; however, it is potentially imposed by our nature. For the evolutionary biologist Edward O. Wilson, "the predisposition to religious belief is the most powerful and complex force of the human mind and in all likelihood an inseparable part of human nature" (1978: 238). In some way, religion is anchored in general structures provided by the brain as a natural biological organ. Which does not mean that there is no particular content preprogrammed. The logical thing is to think that what these structures impose on the myth or rite is analogous to what the brain itself imposes on articulated language: schemes and rules without which it could not exist, but absolutely insufficient for it to exist, something

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Cross Cultural History

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Religions were somewhat influenced by cross culture as religions followed groups into new areas however this was to a greater extent the result of search for power and land using the…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “Anthropology and Religion”, Robert L. Winzeler discusses religion and what it is in terms of the vast ranges of societies known to anthropology (1). He first discusses that terms for religion really do not exist in other places and are not necessarily the same within all of them (Winzeler, 2). For example, Winzeler says, “Neither the Chinese nor the Japanese have a single traditional term that is the simple equivalent of the Western notion of religion”, meaning that in both Japanese and Chinese there were different traditional terms used for different systems of practice and belief (Winzeler, 2). He goes on to say that even though many human societies lack a term for their religion in their language and “do not separate ‘religion’ from…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Religion can be considered to be the common human culture, there is a mysterious myth, it is the human spirit. The Faith is the highest embodiment of a talent human subjective response, it is the paradise of the human consciousness of the universe, the earth's history beyond the form of fate, it is of our human existence and the integrity of the relationship between the objective world, it is a kind of metaphysical…

    • 74 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Evolutionary theory of religion Evolutionary theories of religion supposed as posing a challenge to religious belief (Sosis & Kiper, 2013). Previous research explained religion as a naturalistic perspective, without call up the actual existence of supernatural agents or events (Bering, Cronk, Gray, Johnson, McCullough, Richerson & Sosis, 2007). According to Smith & Arrow (2010), evolutionists have created three theoretical camps that view religion as nonfunctional, functional, or dysfunctional. Nonfunctional theorists concluded that religion is not an adaptation but as an alternative to an evolutionary result of nonreligious adaptations (Smith & Arrow, 2010).…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Black Elk Speak Analysis

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages

    How do you define religion? Is it a belief system based on supernatural beings? Or is it something as foolish as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? According to Geertz in Religion As a Cultural System religion can be broken down into five parts. Geertz writes that religion is a system of symbols (1) which acts to establish moods and motivations in men (2) by formulating conceptions of organizations of existence (3) and covering those conceptions by making them seem factual, (4) while simultaneously making the moods and motivations realistic (5)(Geertz, 90).…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eastern Religion

    • 1296 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Throughout history people have turned to sacred beliefs for sense of well-being, gathering with others whom share their interests, or simply for a guided way of life to live by. Some of the world cultures have rituals, sacred grounds, even objects of common use to represent the practices in which they hold so dearly, for the majority of cultures, religion, typically with a worshiped deity, if not more than one, and a literary central religious text to live by, is how the rest of the religious world practices their beliefs. The largest of those religions is Christianity, making up 33.0% of the World Population, followed primarily in North and South America as well as Europe (Schaefer, 2015, p. 308). Christianity is defined as “the religion based…

    • 1296 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    According to Jeffrey Mahan, “religion includes the various ways in which human beings and their communities relate to the sacred, including their beliefs and practices and the way they have created institutions to organize and contain the sacred”…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Orthodox Judaism

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages

    When learning about religion it is important to know that religion has been studied worldwide. Not only has religion been studied worldwide, it has become one of the most important talked about subjects recently. Religion can be defined as in many different ways, but it is seen to be ones belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or Gods. In researching religion, many individuals have become interested in finding out about where they themselves and others religions have developed from and started. One of the first asked about questions concerning religion is what makes up someone's religion.…

    • 1969 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion and its accompanying world view reflects the values of the culture which practices that religion as exhibited in the ancient world cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In Mesopotamia, it is evident that the religion and world view of the Sumerians reflects the values of their culture based upon their negative outlook on life and the inability they had to trust their gods to take care of them. In Sumer, peoples were afraid of unexpected floods and possible raids by outsiders, which according the Kidner, “this gave the Sumerians a pessimistic outlook on life.” The pessimistic Sumerians believed that these uncertainties in life were caused by their unpredictable gods. The Sumerians believed they could influence the gods in order to make the world more secure, which caused their culture to focus mainly on pleasing and persuading the gods.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critical Analysis Paper # 3 Analysis of “Religion Gives Meaning to Life,” by Louis P. Pojman Introduction: In this article, “Religion Gives Meaning to Life,” Louis P. Pojman believes that religion, but mainly a theistic religion gives purpose and meaning to life. Pojman feels that, since people cannot prove that theism is true or not true, then therefore, people should live like theism is true. A world with theism, living life following a higher being would be a better world than living a life of self-governing, autonomy. Lastly, Pojman believes that living in autonomy is not really affected by having a religion or faith but instead religion may help everyone’s autonomy because they will have more purpose for their personal goals.…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The discussion of the relationship between religion and ecology has sparked a huge debate across the world. Does ecology fall under the bubble of religion? Throughout this course we have been learning how hard it is to define religion and how diverse religion is. With many different types of religion and interpretations of God, it becomes difficult to find a common ground in the debate of religion and ecology. This essay will examine how religion and ecology correlate with one another as well as to produce a better understanding of how to approach the topic.…

    • 976 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Effect of Religion on Adolescent Development Religion can be complicated for a person at any age, let alone adolescents. Growing up, our parents are the main reason why we have any religious affiliation. They are the ones that take us to church, the mosque, the temple etc. so that we can have a foreground for the meaning of life. However, there is a large population of people who do not go to church at all.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Religion plays a huge role in our daily lives. Rather your religious practice is Judaism, Christianity, Amish, Buddhism, Hinduism, atheism, etc., religion seems to shape minds and have a part of every society. “Over the past 100,000 years, no group of people anywhere on earth have been found that did not practice some type of religion (Haviland, 2011)” In researching religion, I’ve found that most religions work towards positive change within its members, in return brings positive change in society.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Evolutionary psychology has been criticized by many, and before I took this class I was not sure which side of the debate I was on. I felt like evolutionary psychology suggested behavior is caused by nature alone, and to some extent it does, but it depends on interpretation. It searches for biological and physiological causes for human behavior, emotions, and motivation. In my other psychology classes I was hearing different views about evolutionary theory from my professors. One professor stated that evolutionary theory pretty much claims that rape is natural and inevitable.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The world is created not by physical measures, but through language. Empowering the speaker, language enables one to place meaning to a word. Hence, words generate categories and divisions based on the perception of the speaker. Control is gained through the power of the tongue. Along with control, manipulation can be the byproduct of language.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays