Soul beliefs- adaptations, religion, soul, survival, ancestors

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Essay 2

One of the broad themes of the Soul Beliefs course has been adaptations that have helped us survive over the years.

Several different lectures and the associated readings have dealt with the evolution of religion and beliefs in the soul. Analyze these adaptations and indicate how they contribute to our survival and to beliefs in religion and the soul. Be sure to include (a) how these adaptations can lead to a belief in religion and the soul and (b) the adaptive significance of these traits in promoting the survival of our ancestors.

In a 3-page double-spaced paper (12pt, New Time Roman font), write a well-documented (cite readings and lectures) essay that demonstrates in-depth knowledge that you have gained from the course. Develop this theme in a logical and cohesive essaywith your conclusions indicated at the end of the essay. List the citations of the lectures and readings that you used in crafting your essay.

Be sure to include information from the following lectures and readings: Functions of Religion, The evolution of Religious Behavior (Wade), Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Afterlife Out of Body and Disembodied, Evolutionary Psychology and Religion is Natural (Bloom).

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Grading Rubric

____ 25 pts in-depth analysis of the topic with course information

____ 15 pts Logical & cohesive essay with proper grammar and spelling

____ 5 pts in-text-citations with lecture/reading name and reference page

____ 5 pts Address all of the lecture material indicated in the prompt

____ TOTAL POINTS

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Main points ▪ Human beings do not have a soul ▪ The soul is a cognitive illusion/delusion ▪ There is no ‘life after death’ This makes life as we know it all the more precious ▪ Where we are ▪ The problem ▪ The approach ▪ The form of the argument ▪ The nature of evidence The form of the argument Serious evidence No serious evidence Today: setting the stage ▪ The problem ▪ The approach ▪ The form of the argument ▪ The nature of evidence Evidence ▪ Two ➢ notions of evidence: Evidence 1: The popular/intuitive/loose notion of evidence ➢ Evidence 2: The much more stringent scientific notion of evidence The world wide lottery • There are a billion possible combinations • Therefore odds of winning are 1/109 • A billion tickets are issued with each possible combination • One billion people buy tickets The world wide lottery • Therefore one person MUST win! • 100 000 people visit “miracle sites” • The winner happens to be a “miracle site” visitor The naïve version • Odds were 1 in a billion • Person visited a “miracle site” • And won the world wide lottery! • This MUST be a miracle!!!! In fact there is no ‘miracle’ whatsoever! Correlation does not entail causation! Why supernatural ‘explanations’ do not explain anything Science ▪ Seeks to provide naturalistic as opposed to supernatural explanations of the world ▪ Naturalistic forces: not intelligent, no intentions, no foresight, no purpose, blind, mechanical … ▪ Supernatural forces: intelligent, intentional, have foresight, purpose, even emotions In the beginning … “Humanity has had a long fascination with blood sacrifice. In fact, it has been by no means uncommon for a child to be born into this world only to be patiently and lovingly reared by [people] who believe that the best way to keep the sun on its course or to ensure a rich harvest is to lead him by tender hand into a field or to a mountain top and bury, butcher, or burn him alive as an offering to an invisible God” Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation, p. 93 In the beginning … “The Sumerians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Canaanites, Maya, Inca, Aztecs, Olmecs, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Teutons, Celts, Druids, Vikings, Gauls, Hindus, Thais, Chinese, Japanese, Maoris, Melanesians, Tahitians, Hawaiians, Balinese, Australian aborigines, Iroquois, Huron, Cherokee, etc. ” Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation, p. 93-94 Science ▪ The theory of electricity ▪ The germ theory of disease ▪ The theory of gravitation ▪ The theory of mental illness ▪ The theory of evolution Science ▪ As we gain understanding, we move from supernatural to natural explanations – and not the other way around! ▪ There is not a single area where science has found credible evidence for the operation of supernatural agents/forces Outline ▪ Define the soul Look at the evidence that has been used to support the existence of souls ▪ Conclude that none of the evidence is scientifically credible ▪ Review the evidence supporting materialism and conclude that it is scientifically credible ▪ ▪ Present the broader scientific view Outline ▪ Define the soul Look at the evidence that has been used to support the existence of souls ▪ Conclude that none of the evidence is scientifically credible ▪ Review the evidence supporting materialism and conclude that it is scientifically credible ▪ ▪ Present the broader scientific view Soul 1 “An entity which is regarded as being the immortal or spiritual part of the person and, though having no physical or material reality, is credited with the functions of thinking and willing, and hence determining all behavior” [Yourdictionary.com] “The spiritual part of man regarded as surviving after death, and as susceptible of happiness or misery in a future state” [Oxford Dictionary] The principle of thought and action in man commonly regarded as an entity distinct from the body, the spiritual part of man in contrast to the purely physical [Oxford Dictionary] The disembodied spirit of a deceased person regarded as a separate entity and as invested with some amount of form or personality [Oxford Dictionary] Soul 2 “Intellectual or spiritual power. High development of the mental faculties. Also, in somewhat weakened sense, deep feeling, sensitivity” Oxford Dictionary In other words, esthetic sensitivity, artistic sensibility, creativity, etc. Soul 3 “S/he has soul” ‘Soul’ here means something like character, personality, charisma, etc. “Soul as the complete self or soul as a metaphor” Soul 1 Supernatural Soul 2 Soul 3 Natural The question ▪ Do human beings have a soul that: ➢ Is immaterial Performs some/all cognitive/perceptual functions ➢ ➢ Survives the death of our physical body Outline ▪ Define the soul Look at the evidence that has been used to support the existence of souls ▪ Conclude that none of the evidence is scientifically credible ▪ Review the evidence supporting materialism and conclude that it is scientifically credible ▪ ▪ Present the broader scientific view The evidence Look at the evidence that has been used to support the existence of souls: ▪ ▪ ‘Old’ evidence ▪ Near death experiences ▪ Out of body experiences ▪ Talking to the dead ▪ Gaps in our current scientific understanding 3. Weighing the soul According to Dr. Duncan MacDougall, the soul weighs 21 grams … 4. Near Death Experience (NDE) Death Clinical death Brain death/Legal death NDE: characteristics ▪ Pleasant emotions; calmness and serenity ▪ Visions of a tunnel with bright light at the end ▪ Encounters with deceased relatives or spiritual figures ▪ Experiencing a ‘life review’ ▪ Out of body experience ▪ Being returned to the body, often reluctantly 5. Out of body Experience (OBE) Popular illustration The question Dreams vs. NDE and OBE Do they tell you anything about the world out there? The God helmet Michael Shermer outof-body experiment Virtual OBE Virtual out-of-bodyexperience Electrical stimulation Ghosts and laptops 5. Talking to the dead Talking to the dead Such claims have been around for hundreds of years, if not more … ▪ If there was credible evidence, we would know by now … ▪ Remember that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence … ▪ The $ 1,000,000 prize James Randi 6. The unexplained Consciousness? On explanations Natural explanations Supernatural explanations Time/progress Where we stand Supernatural explanations Materialistic explanations 7. The ‘new physics’ Does the mind really create reality? In sum What is the evidence? No real evidence In sum Popular sense of ‘evidence’ Yes Scientific sense of ‘evidence’ No But there could be real evidence in principle … ▪ From dreams ▪ From ‘talking to the dead’ ▪ From NDE and OBE In sum Note that we have not strictly speaking ‘disproved’ the existence of the soul ▪ We have simply shown that there is no credible evidence that souls are real ▪ Not been disproved yet … The fact that I, Julien Musolino, am an alien from the planet Bullshitron, disguised as a psychology professor, and on a mission to stop God’s plan to elect Michelle Bachman to the presidency of the United States in 2012 by perverting your young, innocent minds with crazy liberal Pew Global Attitudes Project, November 2007 The magnitude of the divide 87% of Americans say they “never doubt the existence of God” ▪ - Recent Pew, Gallup, and Newsweek polls (cited by Sam Harris) ▪ 93% of the members of the US National Academy of Sciences say they do not believe in a personal God - 1998 Poll (cited by Victor Stenger) Main points ▪ Human beings do not have a soul ▪ The soul is a cognitive illusion/delusion ▪ There is no ‘life after death’ This makes life as we know it all the more precious ▪ Three groups of people ▪ The choir ▪ The undecided ▪ The enlightened Today: Setting the stage ▪ The problem ▪ The approach ▪ The form of the argument ▪ The nature of evidence What are we? _____________________________ ▪ Are ▪ we mere biological robots? If so, how does flesh produce the richness of our mental lives? What are we? _____________________________ ▪ Are we mere biological robots? ▪ If so, how does flesh produce the richness of our mental lives? ▪ If not, what else are we made of? Awesome implications! Today: Setting the stage ▪ The problem ▪ The approach ▪ The form of the argument ▪ The nature of evidence The approach vs. The modern scientific view The traditional/popular view Pope John Paul II “Today … some new findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than a hypothesis. In fact it is remarkable that this theory has had progressively greater influence on the spirit of researchers, following a series of discoveries in different scholarly disciplines. The convergence in the results of these independent studies—which was neither planned nor sought—constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory.” Message delivered to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences 22 October 1996 Pope John Paul II “Pius XII underlined the essential point: if the origin of the human body comes through living matter which existed previously, the spiritual soul is created directly by God” “As a result, the theories of evolution which regard the spirit either as emerging from the forces of living matter, or as a simple epiphenomenon of that matter, are incompatible with the truth about man.” Message delivered to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences 22 October 1996 The asymmetry _____________________________ Views/opinions Rarely hear about Vilayanur Ramachandran “The soul as it is usually spoken of, “an immaterial spirit that occupies individual brains and that only evolved in humans — all that is complete nonsense.” Belief in that kind of soul “is basically superstition”” Albert Einstein “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.” (Albert Einstein, obituary in New York Times, 19 April 1955) Materialism Materialism is a set of related theories which hold that all entities and processes are composed of — or are reducible to — matter, material forces or physical processes. In general, the metaphysical theory of materialism entails the denial of the reality of spiritual beings, consciousness and mental or psychic states or processes, as ontologically distinct from, or independent of material changes or processes. Since it denies the existence of spiritual beings or forces, materialism typically is allied with atheism or agnosticism. [From: Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward Craig. 1998 Routledge, New York] The Wedge document “To defeat scientific materialism and its destructive moral, cultural, and political legacies.” “To replace materialistic explanations with the theistic understanding that nature and human beings are created by God.” Dualism Dualism is the concept that our mind is more than just our brain. This concept entails that our mind has a nonmaterial, spiritual dimension that includes consciousness and possibly an eternal attribute. One way to understand this concept is to consider our self as a container including our physical body and physical brain along with a separate non-physical mind, spirit, or soul. [From ‘All About Philosophy’] The Copernican revolution The Darwinian revolution The neuroscientific revolution Everyone knows about the rocky relationship between science and theology brought about by the revolutionary proposals of Copernicus and Darwin. Fewer people know about an equally revolutionary scientific innovation that is currently under way among neurobiologists. This revolution in brain research has completely rewritten our understanding of who we are. It poses fundamental challenges to traditional Christian theology. According to the scientific worldview that now dominates, it is no longer necessary to speak of a soul or spirit as distinct from the functions of the brain. Back cover, ‘What about the soul?’ Neuroscience and Christian Anthropology Today: setting the stage ▪ The problem ▪ The approach ▪ The form of the argument ▪ The nature of evidence Evidence ▪ Two ➢ notions of evidence: Evidence 1: The popular/intuitive/loose notion of evidence ➢ Evidence 2: The much more stringent scientific notion of evidence The world wide lottery • There are a billion possible combinations • Therefore odds of winning are 1/109 • A billion tickets are issued with each possible combination • One billion people buy tickets The world wide lottery • Therefore one person MUST win! • 100 000 people visit “miracle sites” • The winner happens to be a “miracle site” visitor The naïve version • Odds were 1 in a billion • Person visited a “miracle site” • And won the world wide lottery! • This MUST be a miracle!!!! In fact there is no ‘miracle’ whatsoever! Correlation does not entail causation! Why supernatural ‘explanations’ do not explain anything Science ▪ Seeks to provide naturalistic as opposed to supernatural explanations of the world ▪ Naturalistic forces: not intelligent, no intentions, no foresight, no purpose, blind, mechanical … ▪ Supernatural forces: intelligent, intentional, have foresight, purpose, even emotions In the beginning … “Humanity has had a long fascination with blood sacrifice. In fact, it has been by no means uncommon for a child to be born into this world only to be patiently and lovingly reared by [people] who believe that the best way to keep the sun on its course or to ensure a rich harvest is to lead him by tender hand into a field or to a mountain top and bury, butcher, or burn him alive as an offering to an invisible God” Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation, p. 93 In the beginning … “The Sumerians, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Canaanites, Maya, Inca, Aztecs, Olmecs, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Teutons, Celts, Druids, Vikings, Gauls, Hindus, Thais, Chinese, Japanese, Maoris, Melanesians, Tahitians, Hawaiians, Balinese, Australian aborigines, Iroquois, Huron, Cherokee, etc. ” Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation, p. 93-94 Science ▪ The theory of electricity ▪ The germ theory of disease ▪ The theory of gravitation ▪ The theory of mental illness ▪ The theory of evolution Science ▪ As we gain understanding, we move from supernatural to natural explanations – and not the other way around! ▪ There is not a single area where science has found credible evidence for the operation of supernatural agents/forces In sum ▪ The emotional jury ▪ The rational jury Let’s take the reverse case EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND THE SOUL EVOLUTION AND ITS RELEVANCE TO PSYCHOLOGY What we know about evolution: ▪Behaviors that benefit our survival are more likely to appear in future generations  How we approach evolution: ▪Imagine the time frame in which evolution occurred, use what we know about the species’ development, and formulate hypotheses about how the trait developed ▪E.g. peppered moths in England EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY Imagine human beings in the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness– 10 million to 10,000 years ago Pre-agriculture, egalitarian societies, hunting, gathering What’s our most important tool for survival? Our speed? Our strength? Our brains Why? Importance of social living Why is childhood so much longer for humans than other species? Head needs to fit through mother’s pelvis, Mother needs to walk upright, keeping the pelvis a certain size Large brains are really important to humans Childhood – very different from most other species More brain development occurs after birth 4 COSMIDES AND TOOBY’S 5 PRINCIPLES Principle 1. The brain is a physical system. It functions as a computer (metaphor!). Its circuits are designed to generate behavior that is appropriate to your environmental circumstances. Principle 2. Our neural circuits were “designed” by natural selection to solve problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history. COSMIDES AND TOOBY’S 5 PRINCIPLES Principle 3. Consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg; most of what goes on in your mind is hidden from you. Principle 4. Different neural circuits are specialized for solving different adaptive problems. Principle 5. Our modern skulls house a stone age mind. Some Examples REASONING AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCH  There are 4 cards. Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other  Rule: If a card has a vowel on one side, then it must have an even number on the other  Which cards do you turn over to be sure that the rule is being followed? A √ B 10 5 Always irrelevant If consonant, irrelevant √ REASONING AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCH New rule: If a person is drinking beer, that person must be at least 21 Which cards do you turn over to be sure that the rule is being followed? Age: 24 √ If beer, irrelevant Age: 17 Always irrelevant √ REASONING AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCH Wason selection task demonstrates evolutionary psych principles: Two problems are logically identical We perform much better at the second because it uses the cheater detection system Cheater detection is a specialized system “designed” to solve adaptive problems of living in social groups ▪Compare to vampire bats We don’t consciously realize that we are thinking about the 2 problems differently MORE EV PSYCH EXAMPLES Extends the work of Fodor (1983): most of the mind is small, specialized modules – compartments that feed information to some central executive area of the brain Just as we can’t help but see things in color because that is how our vision system represents energy in the world, we can’t help but see the world according to what our modules focus on and present to us. EV PSYCH AND THE SOUL If we want a psychology of religion/soul that is meaningful, we have to better understand what the mind is doing in the day-to-day Who here has taken cognition? Categorization Animate Things Inanimate things Birds Mammals Natural things Fish Shark Eagle Bass Salmon Big Bird Foods Robin Toys Mouse Cat Trees Rocks Drinks Dog Fruit Vegetables Peas Stuffed animal Carrot Broccoli Book We make assumptions based on category membership Ball TEMPLATES AT WORK Let’s say I encounter a new item I had never heard of before: ▪Zygoons are the only predators of hyenas ▪ What can you tell me about Zygoons? ▪ None of you has ever heard of the word Zygoon, but at this stage you have an image of an Animal, and thus to you Zygoons… ▪ Grow and die ▪ Need food for survival ▪ Give birth to other Zygoons ▪ Eat hyenas INFERENCE SYSTEM Sentence Refers to Zygoons eat hyenas Inference: Zygoon is an animal Properties Being a carnivore TEMPLATES AT WORK Thricklers are expensive, but cabinet makers need them to work wood You now know that Thricklers:  Are manmade  Have a function defined by a goal  Shape fits function  Inanimate  expensive, This is because these are all parts of your representation of a Tool, another important template (These examples can be found in Boyer, Religion Explained, pg. 57-60) MORE ABOUT TEMPLATES What happens when you assume? You make an ASS out of U and ME Actually, that’s only what happens when you assume and you’re wrong This style of categorization provides the ability to make basic assumptions about things and not have to think about them – it’s highly efficient TEMPLATES AT WORK What is going on when I read about a zygoon? Inferences ▪ Information we intuit without being told – e.g. we assumed that a zygoon is an animal Default inferences ▪ I assume that since it is an animal, it will maintain properties of other animals (gives birth to its own kind, grows and dies, etc.) unless I encounter any information to the contrary ▪ Note that these are expectations. We’re not tied to them, but we do find them reasonably likely, and we’ll be surprised if they are not upheld. EV PSYCH AND CATEGORIZATION We have categories for things we usually come in to contact with We make automatic assumptions using these categories Our automatic assumptions relate to evolutionary needs ▪E.g. we don’t have a category for all animals that are brown, because color is not useful info in most scenarios ▪But we do know which animals are carnivores and which are herbivores ▪Volunteer? EV PSYCH AND AGENCY Agency ▪Inferences in video – what is causing them? ▪A description of the source of movement → an agent is something that moves on its own. ▪Fundamental distinction made early in life between things that move on their own and things that don’t AGENCY AND INANIMATE OBJECTS If a ball rolls behind two screens in this demonstration, the child (age 2) is surprised if he doesn’t see it pass between the screens. Don’t get the same reaction if a person does this AGENCY AND THE SOUL  Agency is a very important factor in the evolutionary environment, but it’s something we cannot see ▪ Therefore describing the source of agency grabs attention  Concept of a meme (Dawkins, pre-God-bashing phase) ▪ Idea or tendency that is found independently in many cultures because of its usefulness  Not a historical hypothesis ▪ Aim for the soul is to understand it on a conceptual level – what part of our concepts are important in forming the concept of soul? SOME HYPOTHESIZED PROPERTIES OF THE SOUL Immaterial Animacy / center of agency Center of morality Essence of a living being / identity Indivisibility. What an evolutionary context has to say about these attributes Study from last year – early thoughts on the topic Assumptions of PERSON Sandra rolled down the hill, because she wanted to get to the bottom Has Agency Sandra (=PERSON) Rolled down the hill because she wanted to get to the bottom Belief-Desire Psychology Is subject to the laws of physics Assumptions of OBJECT  The rock rolled down the hill, because it wanted to get to the bottom Rock (=OBJECT) Rolled down the hill because it wanted to get to the bottom Therefore, this sentence is absurd Has Agency Belief-Desire Psychology Is subject to the laws of physics Sandra’s Soul rolled down the hill because it wanted to get to the bottom Sandra’s Soul (=SOUL) Rolled down the hill because it wanted to get to the bottom Therefore, we predict this sentence will also be seen as absurd Predicted Assumptions of SOUL MAYBE Has Agency MAYBE Belief-Desire Psychology Is subject to the laws of Physics FINDINGS – AGENCY AND HUMAN ESSENCE Absurd 5.00 4.50 4.00 3.50 3.00 Soul Mind 2.50 2.00 1.50 Very 1.00 reasonable Horse A horse has a ____ Shrub A shrub has a _____ FINDINGS – MORALITY 4 Absurd 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Very 0.5 reasonable 0 A person’s soul can be disgusted by Hitler A person’s soul can be disgusted by roadkill CONCLUSIONS Evolutionary context influences our thinking Modern, explicit, conscious ideas, may have their roots in evolutionary problems or modes of thinking The concept of the soul is one such idea CONCLUSIONS Religious and cultural concepts build on challenges of our environment: ▪describing agency ▪Identifying moral behavior ▪Keeping track of a person’s essence We might want to consider people’s concept of soul as a way of taking an unconscious inference and putting it into words What does this mean about how the concept of “soul” came to be? CONCLUSIONS  We can argue about religion’s truth endlessly  Cognitive approach to religion attempts to understand and describe the mental processes involved in thinking about religious concepts  Doctrinal vs. intuitive beliefs ▪ E.g. at RU, approx. 60% believers, 30% agnostic, 10% atheists ▪ But – over 95% believe in a soul ▪ Suggests the soul is something very different than religion, reflects different belief systems – don’t confuse them Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Darwin’s Dangerous Idea “There is a simple grandeur in the view of life with its powers of growth, assimilation , and reproduction,...that from so simple an origin, through the process of gradual selections of infinitesimal changes, endless forms most beautiful and wonderful have evolved.” -- Darwin (1842) Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Darwin’s Zeitgeist Victorian England – the first “Information Age”? Charles Darwin was young, undecided, and restless Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Darwin’s Excellent Adventure Captain Fitzroy’s The Beagle (1832-1837) • Amazing diversity of flora & fauna • Incredible landscapes • Sea shells on a mountaintop • Malthus on population dynamics • An earthquake (July 1837) Darwin’s “prototypical scene” • The BIG Idea! Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences The Dangerous Delay of His Dangerous Idea By 1842, Darwin had • drafted most of the ideas • insured the eventual publication But…. • daughter died • son ill • Darwin ill • Studied barnacles • Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844) (The “Victorian Sensation”) • …. and that pesky brain thing Wallace’s Wake-up Call!! Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences The Book, The Book On The Origin of Species (1859) • a tour de force of the theory • deliberately ‘scholarly’ to counter Vestiges • Fitzroy’s lament There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences So Simple & Straightforward Two Main Processes Drive Evolution • Natural variation • Natural selection …. Let’s take it for a test drive. Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Peppered Moth • Adaptive coloration • Changed with environment • …………. and back http://www.ndpteachers.org/perit/PepperedMoth%5B1%5D.GIF http://www.ndpteachers.org/perit/PepperedMoth%5B2%5D.GIF Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Intricacies – Liver Fluke Life Cycle Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences The Natural Heritage of the Brain MacLean’s Triune Brain • Reptilian • Paleomammalian • Neomammalian Darwin’s Two Simple Rules • Natural variability • Natural selection Kalat: "Some ancient animals that acted the way we do survived and reproduced more successfully than some closely related animals that acted some other way; the first group of animals therefore became our ancestors and the second group became extinct." Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Darwin’s Loss of Geological Time Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Darwin’s Loss of Mendelian Genetics • Addressed Society of Bruenn (1865) • Hybridization • Inheritance • Snubbed by elitists Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Test of Time “They [creation & evolution] are presented as alternatives that exclude each other….this clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.” ---- Pope Benedict VI Soul Beliefs: Causes & Consequences Mental Evolution “In the future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be securely based on…the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation.” -- Charles Darwin Functions of Religion The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religure” which means “to bind” Communal dancing, trances, communication with spirits, gods, and dead ancestors Need for group cohesion, territorial defense, handling freeloaders The need to be a member of a TRIBE. Wade’s primary argument is it was a matter of physical survival As religion evolved it secured a new level of social cohesion that was further strengthened by the monotheistic acceptance of one and only one god who served as a stern overseer of people’s actions. Fear of divine punishment in this life and in afterlife as enhanced intra-tribal ties. Learning how to be a member of a tribe • Imitation • Instruction • Initiation Cognitive Dissonance Advantages of being member of a tribe, any tribe, but particularly a religious tribe • Protection • Sense of Identity Answers the question of “Who am I?” “I am a name of religion” The arrival of Protestantism and the weakening of ties that bind Emile Durkheim. French sociologist in late 19th Century. Study of suicide rates More suicides in Protestant communities than in Catholic and Jewish communities The concept of anomie From physical survival to psychological survival The onset of Protestantism as a case in point. Martin Luther and his fit in the choir. “Ich bin nit! Ich bin nit!” (I am not! I am not!) Martin Luther (1483-1546) Erik Erikson (1902-1994) Author of Young Man Luther Who am I? How do I fit into the adult world? What do I believe? What roles are available to me? What is my ideology? Defending religious ideologies Recent outbreaks of violence sparked by video as case in point The result of insulting members of a tribe Research on religion and health •Seventh Day Adventists •Mormons •Regular church attendance •The earlier the better Making causal inferences when two variables are shown to be related to each other at a level of statistical significance. In this instance, do the results indicate that belief in one or another religion is a prominent cause of longer life spans? Next class Arguments that religions are bad for people
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Attached.

Running head: SOUL BELIEFS

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Soul beliefs
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

SOUL BELIEFS

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Soul beliefs
Beyond religious beliefs, human nature beliefs in soul and it have a wide range of
adaptation for its survival. According to Darwin, religion is just an adaptation that comes due to
evolutionary developments (Jackson, 2010). Religion itself could be perceived as the
evolutionary adaptation that comes to outfit for a noticeably human wants to uphold such critical
elements of human actions, where the disparity is established among diverse groups of human
beings, adequately constant over many people and over an extended period that natural selection
always acts on them. The paper exposed different and brilliant adaptations as far as soul, as well
as religious evolution beliefs are concerned, it has declared the critical function of religion in
upon human life, the evolution of religion and ancestral life.
On the other hand, the socio-biologists, notably, Wilson, denied such notion that the team
selection, hence Wilson creates the thought "culturgens” that is merely a developmental gene
homolog thus suggesting that such culturgens, as well as common genes, mingle at the time of
evolution. The notion is factual in a obsolesce view, for the reason that cultural rate regarding
evolution is quick wh...


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Excellent! Definitely coming back for more study materials.

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