Religion Evolving - Cultural, Cognitive, and Ecological Dynamics - Benjamin Grant Purzycki
Extending Evolutionary Accounts of Religion beyond the Mind
Religion Evolving - Cultural, Cognitive, and Ecological Dynamics - Benjamin Grant Purzycki
Benjamin Grant Purzycki [+]
Aarhus University
View Website
Benjamin Grant Purzycki is Associate Professor in the Department of the Study of Religion at Aarhus University.
Richard Sosis [+]
University of Connecticut
View Website
Richard Sosis is the James Barnett Professor of Humanistic Anthropology at the University of Connecticut.
Description
Chapter 8 contrasts byproduct and adaptationist accounts of religion and engages with some of the studies that have sought to evaluate these accounts. We expand on our discussion of signaling within religious communities and show its importance in understanding the adaptive benefits of religion. We also advance our analysis of religion as a system, arguing that by conceiving of religion as a system we can avoid the unproductive debates about whether religion is an adaptation or byproduct.