Re: The evolution of belief


"Anthony Campbell" <ac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dsanvi$2h5p$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 2006-02-06, Mark Thomas <m.thomas57@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
By way of comparison, to help me understand the terms you use, would
language, which has parallels with religion, require duo-centric
group
selection or mono-centric Darwinian organism mutualism to explain
its
evolution?



The parallels between religion and language are indeed very
interesting.
In "The Symbolic Species", Terrence Deacon proposes that languages
evolve to be easily learned by children. I think that the same
argument
can be applied to the evolution of religion. For more on this, see
http://www.acampbell.org.uk/essays/skeptic/language.html.

Deacon regards languages as being in a sense parasitic on humans,
though
perhaps symbiont would be more appropriate. There is an interesting
question whether religions should be considered parasitic or symbiont.

No such considerations are worthwhile if poignant insights
is what one is after, as I see it.

Language is far better seen as an adaptation for
evolutionary opportunities AND against evolutionary
adversities (amongst which the "conditioned-in" endogenous
pressure of CURSES type memories should not be ignored).

Language is a means of self and social regulation.

It can reinforce as well as repress focuses of actention.

That languages is functionally so tightly linked up with
the "endorphin system" that it makes "ideas as opiates"
a totally approapriate and relevant expression.

The capabilities of hypnotists (and their subjects) is only the tip
of the iceberg.

P


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: A reply to Marvin Minsky.
    ... have no problem seeing that I'm talking about religion and faith. ... understanding of your own conscious experience? ... in our language, that you don't have to learn much English before you start ... of the tree with the rope between our legs. ...
    (comp.ai.philosophy)
  • Re: Is It Possible...................
    ... their Hebrew language or origins? ...    understanding the actual words this God had written... ... groups within the same religion have nothing in common other than the ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • "Ummi": illiterate or gentile?
    ... illiterate since certainly not all of the people of the prophet could ... while this is a clarifying Arabic language. ... while the great reading is in Arabic. ... of religion in England was Latin. ...
    (soc.religion.islam)
  • Re: 21st Century repeat of ~ Sodom & Gomorrah ~
    ... specific than the non-technical terms of ordinary language". ... How is religious use of 'faith' related to the everyday one? ... Christians are supposed to believe that faith is the evidence ... they're talking religion or not. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Religion and the death spiral of the moth
    ... Religion fosters "team spirit" and group cohesiveness. ... People who think God ... between cultural evolution and biological evolution. ... Or I'll say it was definitely founded when language ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)