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Resumen
Resumen
One of the great intellectual battles of modern times is between evolution and religion. Until now, they have been considered completely irreconcilable theories of origin and existence. David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral takes the radical step of joining the two, in the process proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations.
The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments in evolutionary biology. If society is an organism, can we then think of morality and religion as biologically and culturally evolved adaptations that enable human groups to function as single units rather than mere collections of individuals? Wilson brings a variety of evidence to bear on this question, from both the biological and social sciences. From Calvinism in sixteenth-century Geneva to Balinese water temples, from hunter-gatherer societies to urban America, Wilson demonstrates how religions have enabled people to achieve by collective action what they never could do alone. He also includes a chapter considering forgiveness from an evolutionary perspective and concludes by discussing how all social organizations, including science, could benefit by incorporating elements of religion.
Religious believers often compare their communities to single organisms and even to insect colonies. Astoundingly, Wilson shows that they might be literally correct. Intended for any educated reader, Darwin's Cathedral will change forever the way we view the relations among evolution, religion, and human society.
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Revisar OPCIONES
In the ongoing debate between science and religion about evolution, these two new books should provide much-needed breadth. Since the 1960s, evolutionary biology has been dominated by two theses: (1) natural selection takes place at the genetic level, with species and ecosystems being simply the products of microbiological evolution (i.e., there is no "group selection"); and (2) biology must shed its 18th-century reliance on teleological or functional explanations (i.e., "purpose" must be eliminated from its lexicon). In Darwin's Cathedral, Wilson (biology and anthropology, Binghamton Univ.) voices a growing consensus that there is room in evolutionary theory for both group selection and functional explanations. Wilson's main thesis is that religious groups are essentially organisms that are subject to natural selection and that serve an adaptive purpose. Here's the basic argument. An evolutionary framework requires three conditions: phenotypic variation, heritability, and fitness consequences. These conditions apply to the evolution of biological entities, sociopolitical entities, and even information. Defenders of "group selection" argue that it makes perfectly good sense, evolutionarily, to explore the adaptation of competing ecosystems, nations, and worldviews. What is daunting about this research program is mapping out not only the enormously complex relationships within biology, sociology, and epistemology but also the relationships between them. Darwin's Cathedral takes a first step but does not complete the evolutionary model. Its most visible lacuna is the connection between religion and what is currently known about the structure of the human brain. To close that gap, see The Mystical Mind, by d'Aquili and Newberg (CH, Jun'00), and Why God Won't Go Away, by Newberg et al. (CH, Sep'01).In Species of Origins, Gilberson (physics, astronomy, and history of science, Eastern Nazarene College) and Yerxa (history, Eastern Nazarene) provide the single most comprehensive examination of the contemporary debate between religion and science about the origins of life and of the universe. This book, however, focuses more on the internal debate within science(s) over religion than on internal debate within religion(s) over science, and therefore emphasizes scientific theories such as creationism, intelligent design, and theistic evolution. Especially noteworthy is its discussion of the role afforded popular science writers (Dawkins, Atkins, Wilson, Weinberg, Gould, Hawking, Johnson, and Behe), the media, and religious leaders (Morris and Gish). Taken together, Darwin's Cathedral and Species of Origins provide considerable breadth in the ongoing debate between science(s) and religion(s). Neither book focuses on the dialogue between religious groups over science and evolution. The works of Ronald Numbers, including Darwinism Comes to America (CH, May'99) still provide the best source on this debate. Some coverage of evolutionary philosophy, especially in works such as Karl Popper's Conjectures and Refutations (1962) and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's Phenomenon of Man (1959), would have been valuable. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended, in both cases. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty. R. F. White College of Mount St. Joseph
Library Journal Review
Viewing religion from an evolutionary perspective, Wilson (biology and anthropology, Binghamton Univ.) argues that religious belief and other symbolic systems are closely connected to reality in that they are a powerful force in motivating adaptive behaviors. Disconnecting religion from its reliance on supernatural agents as a defining principle, he posits human religious groups as adaptive organisms wherein processes like group selection, evolutionary pressures, and moral systems come into play, offering a new avenue for interpretive insights. To his credit, Wilson looks for a middle ground in this complex confluence of biology, sociology, anthropology, and religion: "I think group selection can explain much about religion but by no means all." He depends heavily on Darwinian theory, sociologists like Rodney Stark, and symbolic thinkers like mile Durkheim and Terrence Deacon. He ultimately argues for the power of symbolic thinking as a sophisticated adaptive advantage alongside factual thinking. Wilson's readers should be prepared for a tightly argued, highly academic yet satisfying read. Sandra Collins, Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh Sports & Recreation The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2001. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Tabla de contenido
| Introduction |
| Church as Organism |
| 1 The View from Evolutionary Biology |
| 2 The View from Social Sciences |
| 3 Calvinism: An Argument from Design |
| 4 The Secular Utility of Religion: Historical Examples |
| 5 The Secular Utility of Religion: The Modern Literature |
| 6 Forgiveness as a Complex Adaptation |
| 7 Unifying Systems |
| Notes Bibliography |
| Acknowledgments |
| Index |