Civilizations and world religions

1. Civilizations and worldreligions 6. Lecture. Phenomena and evolutionarytheory of religion

2. Revolutions of human evolution • Earliest stage of human evolution: it is the stage of human ethology • Modern man – (EEA – Environment of Evolutionary adaptation) – and the phase of evolutionary psychology • Symbolic revolution – the cultural evolution became more important (here appears speech and language) • Neolithic revolution – here appears culture in its entire reality, and also inequality, rulership and hierarchic community • Institutional revolution – here appears state and everything else; writing and even more complex, developed conceptual thinking.

3. The levels of hierarchic controlling-system which determines the behavior 1. Earliest level of human evolution = reflex-like, „click-launch” reaction. 2. The level of emergence of modern man = he „anticipates” the solution, and acts instinctively (+ some deliberation) 3. Level of symbolic revolution = he realizes the sign, identifies its meaning or sense, and he behaves in accordance with it. 4. Level of Neolithic revolution = he is in connection with experience and with what he learnt from his ancestors, deliberates and behaves according to that. 5. Level of institutional revolution = he analyses the circumstances, applies the models of science, gathers information, deliberates prudently, and takes into account the possible consequences.

4. The Matrioshka-model of ethnocentrism Level of ideologies Level of prejudices Level of xenophobia/homophily Level of ethnocentric-module Level of biological kinship

5. What does the „institutional” level means? The institutions are „tinkered” or „gadgeteered” from the earlier emerged elements of culture, they are systems with a concrete adaptive functions, which determine and form the human behavior on a very basic level. Roles, symbols and rules, made up from the material and spiritual elements of culture, systems which control the behavior. Since this point our life takes place within the frames of these institutions: state, politics, ideology, religion, domination, market etc. These systems make the environment and circumstances stable and predictable. Their functioning is based upon the earlier levels, but on the institutional level the agent makes deliberations, and takes into the account the actual and possible effects of these institutions.

6. The main steps of identity in human evolution • Before settle: evolutionary psychological mental module. Its sign is the ending of the „smiling-phase” of the infant, the fear from unacquainted, alien people after 7-8 months. • After symbolic revolution: fear and identification is brought forth by symbols, which we transmit in part orally and in part in written form (star, cross, song, living speech, etc.). • The stereotype emerged after settling: we have to cooperate with alien people with whom we are living together, we must „classify” them in a way or another, and the rejection could change after a while. • The ideology emerged in the age of institutional revolution, as a complex institute, (symbols, roles, rules, rites, building, etc.).

7. Steps of identity in the course of human evolution On the first level the biological relatedness is decisive: kinship = biological descendance or lineage. After the symbolic revolution the kinship became socially constructed feature. In this period the communication between communities became a decisive factor. Claude Lévi-Strauss: „Civilization is exchange of items, information and spouses”. It is not the biological relationship, but the system of social relation which is truly matters. (In the Kalahari Desert „we”, ju hoansi = real human. „Aliens”, „ju dole” = bad, evil, malicious being. But the word „barbarian” in Ancient Greek language refers to quite the same: „barbarian” = „that who doesn’t understand Greek language”, „that who cannot speak intelligibly”) We must support our own kin, and we have a good reason to expect the same support from our own kin, and we must reject the alien people, and avoid them. We try to dehumanize the enemy. (E.g. in American prisons the violence amongst the prisoners is mentioned with the following slang expression: NHI, that is: No human involved).

8. The elements of evolutionary theory of religion • 1. The interpretation of the origins of religion by the help of basic categories of evolution, (such as: inheritance, mutation, selection, adaptation, etc.) • 2a. The interpretation of religion as a social, „gadgeteered” (bricolage) construction, as an adaptation, (a function that helps the survival). • 2b. The presentation of such functions, which helps the individuals and the group to solve certain problems in the actual situation, or in the actual level of evolution. (So, due to which function it is an adaptation, and not a by-product or a „bug”). • 3. The understanding of „why” is the unfolding of evolutionary story that lead to the present, („just so story”). In evolution the answer to a question is always a story.

9. What is religion? In the prespective of evolutionary theory • 1. Religion is a „cultural universal” – it could be found in every known present and past (after its material mementos known) societies. • Concerning sociologists (Durkheim, Murdock, Lévi-Strauss, Donald Brown, etc.) a „cultural universal” is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide.

10. What is religion? 2. • 2. It fulfils very similar functions in every society: • A. Influences behavior (punishes, rewards). • B. Legitimates (a hierarchy, a society). • C. Interprets, explains (the structure, the actual state of world). • D. It offers a technique of manipulation that promises practical success (via prayer, rite or magical praxis). • E. It „absolves”, appeases, and provides a high-level emotional satisfaction. • 3. One cannot necessarily find all these features in every religious phenomena in the world, but a certain combination of them is demonstrable in every single case of religions of the world.

11. The precedent indications and „preparatory” functions of religion on the level of animals • Culture • Tool-using and tool-making • „Politics” • Exchange of needs and activities • Following rules and norms • Pro-sociability. • Prosocial behavior: or "voluntary behavior intended to benefit another", consists of actions which "benefit other people or society as a whole", "such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering." In short: a sort of altruism. • These functions could be found in a preliminary form on the level of „higher primates”.

12. The evolutionary account of religion.Precedents of religion at animals • The appearance of „theory of mind” at animals, the genesis of „secondary” (attributed) intentionality on the prehuman level. • Tool-using and tool-making – and, in close relationship with it, the appearance of manipulative strategy of success, which is given with tool-using. • The appearance of ritual behavior in social relations, and the spread of this ritual behavior. • Application of social relations in order to influence or „stimulate” psychological states, („grooming”, as a technique to solve conflicts). • Recommended literature: Robin Dunbar, Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1996).

13. Determination of theactualleveloftheagent’s „Theoryof Mind”. The „Sally and Ann”-Test. The childrenbegintorealizethatSallywilllookforthe ball inthebasketattheage of 2-3 years. Accordingtotheresults of theexperiments a maturedchimpanzee is alsoabletoprovidethisachievement.

14. The determination of the actual level of the agent’s „Theory of Mind”. The Gold-fish Test • Two sorts of feed on plates are shown to children of 14-18 months: broccoli and gold-fish biscuit. All likes gold-fish biscuit, and non the broccoli. • The adult with them tastes both types of food, and he pretends that he likes the broccoli very much, and that he dislikes the gold-fish biscuit also very much. • Then he holds out his hands to the child: „Give me please, from one of these feed!” • The 14 month old children – after thinking a while – give the gold-fish biscuit to the adult – after all: everybody likes gold-fish biscuit! • The 18 month old children – though a bit surprised („wow! – there are people who don’t like gold-fish biscuit!”) give broccoli to the adult.

15. The mental modules in evolutionary psychology • „Modularity of mind” is the notion that a mind may, at least in part, be composed of separate innate structures which have established evolutionarily developed functional purposes. • In evolutionary psychology, amongst others, Leda Cosmides treated the problem of modularity of mind. • This perspective suggests that modules are units of mental processing that evolved in response to selection pressures. On this view, much modern human psychological activity is rooted in adaptations that occurred earlier in human evolution, when natural selection was forming the modern human species. • Source: Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (1994). Origins of Domain Specificity: The Evolution of Functional Organization. In L.A. Hirschfeld and S.A. Gelmen, eds., Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity in Cognition and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

16. What does the mental modules-level mean? • 1. They are certain forms of behavior, which were called into existence by problems and challanges given the evolutionary adaptive environment of early periods of evolution of man. • 2. They are functional units which fixed in the brain, and which provide certain sorts of solution to certain problems of adaptation. They are „tools” or „instruments” of the solution. • 3. We decide with the instinctive, unconscious application of these mental modules, who could we trust, who could be a cheater, what should we eat, from what should be affraid of. • 4. Its a psychological attitude, a preference that influences the behavior, and which „presses” the individual towards a certain direction, and generates definite answers to certain situations from time to time.

17. The ages and periods of evolution of religion • 1. The appearance of modern man. At around 500,000 BC, till 120,000 BC. The genesis of „spiritual modules”. The modules of evolutionary psychology. There is no religion yet in the strict sense of the word. • 2. The „symbolic revolution”. It is the period of a „personal religion”. From 120,000 BC till 20,000 BC. • 3. The Neolithic revolution. The age of „social religion”. Worldwide circa 20,000–7000 years. • 4. The institutional revolution. The age of institutional religions. From 7000 till nowadays.

18. The „Matrioshka”-model of religion Religion as a fully developed instituion Level of „social” religion Level of „personal” religion Level of spiritual module Level of elements of „Theory of Mind”

19. The revolution of becoming a human. The genesis of spiritual module • The agent-generating module, (presuming agents in the events of external reality, and comprehend the effects and events in the world according to this presumption). • Belief-generating module, (in uncertain situation, when we should react in a short time, one should attribute the value of certainty to uncertain and unjustified information). • Evolved or fully developed rituality-generating module. (Trying to realize or achieve certain wished goals by virtue of definite pattern or series of actions). • Happiness-generating module. (Simulating the happiness provided by the presence of a parent also in their absence). • Attention to social learning-module. (Attending to and following what is taught by the other members of the group). • Creating contrafactual things (imagination of things which are only possible; capability to fantasize purely imaginative situations).

20. The birth of spiritual modules 2. • What is essential is the connection of all the modules which are mentioned above. • What we call „spiritual module” is the connection of all those modules, or the collective, simultaneous appearance of them. • The spiritual module makes the life of man easier. The man believes in „contrafactual” agents who could help him, who could be „summoned” at will, whom he could treat as friends, companions, supporters, and whom it is a pleasure to contact, and make „consultations” with them.

21. The operation of spiritual module 1. • Researchers investigated whether religious belief influences the aptness or disposition to punish in case of „unfair behavior”. • They affected the participants of experiment with such messages of religious content, which did not attain the level of consciousness. They flashed on the monitor for moments words like „God”, „piety”, „punishment”. • Other participants got messages of religiously neutral content, like „tractor”, „airplane”, „caricature”. • Results showed: those participants, who were „filled” by religious contents, tended to punish with an increased frequency and in a higher degree those people, who deviated from the expected behavior. • The researchers concluded, that though there are several psychological factors which take part in the articulation and formation of behavior, it is an essential motive in the case of believers, that there is a transcendent being who watch them continuously, and evaluates their deeds and motives all the time as well.

22. The operation of spiritual module 2. • The belief in existence of powerful, transcendent, invisible supernatural forces appears at children in a very early age. • In an experiment which was recently done researchers investigated the rule-following attitudes and behavior of 5-6 and 8-9 year old children. • They told to one group of the children that the solving of their exercises is watched by „Princess Alice”, by an invisible fairy, in whom they believed. Other group of the children was controlled by a real adult, who was present during the completing of the exercises. Finally: there was a third group whose members were neither controlled, nor they believed in „Princess Alice”. • In the case of those children who believed in Alice, the rule-following behavior was as strong and firm as in the case of those children, who were controlled by a real adult. • But in the case of „faithless” children the rule-following behavior was induced only by the presence of a real controlling figure, but they tendentiously broke the rules in the absence of the adult.

23. The operation of agent-generating module • Recent experiments show that the children relatively early - at around 12 months – achieves the idea, according to which they associate the order, the creation of operational, automotive things with agents, and they conceive the inanimate things as the cause and source of disorder, as things which on their own account cannot create an order, nor any operational thing.

24. The symbolic revolution:The age of „personal religion” • Small community, ties of kindred, (instinctive pro-sociality). • Mutual dependence, special importance of recognizing the other’s intentions. • Appearance of symbolic objects, signs, actions and products. • Tool-using. The always increasing and accumulating knowledge of tool-making. • Demand to affect and influence the future, (by virtue of addressing agents – the birth of magical praxis and magical notions). • Birth of individual and collective consciousness. (Genesis of „I” or „me” and „we”). • Festivals, rites and ritual objects. • Notion of life after death. The appearance of burial-places. • Norm: the rule of commonly, collectively expected behavior, which is obligatory in regard of all members of the community, and whose keeping could be even forced by violence.

25. Effect of religious symbols 1. • The effect of punishing gods: after the end of life, evaluating the entire life of the person in question, they determine the „final station” for that man. According to the merits or sins of the person these gods send him to Heaven or to Hell. This might force the believer to take into account the attention of his or her god every time when he or she does something. • That this hypothesis is true, so: that this religious effect instinctively, but in a very effective, very real way influences the behavior, is proven by an experiment, which was done a few years ago.

26. Effect of religious symbols 2. • The participants of the experiment had to evaluate two, morally problematic cases: the first of which was a stolen wallet, the other is a faked curriculum vitae. They had to judge normatively these cases on a nine-grade Linkert-scale. • When on the paper there was an eye (as a mere ornament), the participants evaluated the deeds in question much more rigorously as when there were flowers on the paper. • So: the picture, which was not even conscious for the participants of this experiment, influenced the behavior and moral attitudes of them in a demonstrable way. • Source: Bourrat, P. www.epjournal.net. 2010. 8(x) 1-11.

27. Flowers and eyes. The Bateson-experiment In the experiments of Gregory Bateson the workers of the observed office paid for the consumed tea, coffee or milk in a voluntary way. The amount of money in the voluntary pay-box showed an explicit and demonstrable correlation with the picture on the wall in the back-ground; accordingly whether there were eyes or flowers

28. Evolutionary definition of religion on the first level • 1. Belief in supernatural being, and belief in that they could be influenced by certain actions. • 2. Namely: that they could be influenced, affected, and their benevolence could be gained by rites, practices, donations and gifts. • 3. Special experiences, which join those rites, religious practices and the meeting of the „ancestors”.

29. The neolithic revolution:Age of „social” religion • Communities with increasing number of members (the importance of unrelated relationship increases). • Settling, building villages. • Domesticating animals, division of labour, the foundation of life is production. • Emergence and consolidation of inequality in power and property. • Commonly and regularly organized fests and rites. • Fixed rituals and collective identity. (Religion as a cultural universal).

30. Evolutionary definition of religion on the second level • Provides collective identity. • Provides a meaning of life and general explanation to the world. • It supports the collective, social norms: • 1. It helps the isolation of secondary free-riders. • 2. It provides and legitimates the rules and norms of society in question.

31. The institutional revolution:Age of institutional religion • Co-existence of communities with different cultural universals. • The division of labour and class-structure are fixed, and they are passed over to younger generations. • The importance of commerce increases. • The organizing of sources of common pool becomes a determining factor. • The appearance of state. • The appearance of other basic social institutes, which are interrelated, and which are in a close relationship with each other: law, ethics, market, taxation. • Appearance of such social constructions which are important in regard of the above-mentioned basic institutions: writing, building roads, shipping, handicraft, metallurgy, etc. • Cities. • Army. • Birth of major social and territorial organizations: empires, states.

32. The new functions of religion in the age of empires • 1. It legitimates the domination and hierarchy. • 2. It provides principles and rules to organize the society. • 3. It is a system of social activities, with unique objects, specially made for religious praxis and activities, with a special group of people (clergy), that has a peculiar place in the collective division of labour, on a special (holy) place, where a special building is made with religious intentions, (temple), and which place and building serve as a centre for the life of entire community.

33. The elements of evolutionary theory of religion • 1. The interpretation of the origins of religion by the help of basic catherogies of evolution, (such as: inheritance, mutation, selection, adaptation, etc.) • 2a. The interpretation of religion as a social, „gadgeteered” construction, as an adaptation, (a function that helps the survival). • 2b. The presentation of such functions, which helps the individuals and the group to solve certain problems in the actual situation, or in the actual level of evolution. (So, due to which function it is an adaptation, and not a by-product or a „bug”). • 3. The understanding of „why” is the unfolding of evolutionary story that lead to the present, („just so story”). In evolution the answer to a question is always a story.

34. What is religion? In the prespective of evolutionary theory • 1. Religion is a „cultural universal” – it could be found in every known present and past (after its material mementos known) societies. • Amongst sociologists (Durkheim, Murdock, Lévi-Strauss, Donald Brown, etc.) a „cultural universal” is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide.