Agnostic.com

6 4

Gorillas and God: Evolutionary Roots of Religion by Dr. Barbara J King

[vimeo.com]

.

skado 9 Feb 16
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

6 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

1

Interesting talk, though a lot was not that new. I am inclined to think that there is a little more genetic determinism in the origins of religion than she does, and her conclusion at the end that religion is a almost entirely cultural emergence, is a little too strong. But my differences with her on that point are very slight and nuanced, and well within the range of tolerance, so that I would not want to disagree enough to put my none specialist status to the test.

Though I do think, that her compounding in one or two places in the talk however, of religion with morality, show a preconception, derived from what is probably her own religious culture, which is not strictly justified. Speaking in several places of, empathy for example, as associated with religion. Which means of course that if you want to claim as she does that, empathy is associated with religion, and is mainly a cultural thing, then you have to deny that it has genetic origin, which I think may well be the reason she is forced to distance herself from genetic determinism, to a degree not really reasonable.

1

And yet another article you deliberately misread.

1

Sorry it may be interesting, but the pay wall is just too much.

pay wall? Did you try the alternate link at Petter’s comment?

@skado No, thanks will give it a go.

3

Pigeons have been shown to create ritualized behaviors as a result of incedental behaviors prior to a stimulus.

Very informative, thanks.

@Matias But it starts with superstition.

1

I did not watch it all but it is very interesting.

1

Got to sign in.

Sorry. Don’t know why. I didn’t have to.

Thanks for the feedback.

Try this link:
[irtiqa-blog.com]

@skado That was a very long, but interesting, lecture. It also made a lot of sense. Why should only humans develop social structures in which something akin to religion can develop? Any sufficiently intelligent animal with a social structure can nurture an acquired culture of superstitions that can be passed on down the generations - and probably wiped out by complete isolation from that particular group - and also replaced with a different set of superstitions if exposed from birth to a different social structure.
Thus, in a macro sense, religions become superseded, or assimilated into, the religion of a newly dominant society in any area.

Write Comment
You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:651001
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.