The Role of Conceptual Structure in Human Evolution

Author(s):  
Keith Devlin
2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Davis

In the scientific literature on religious evolution, two competing theories appeal to group selection to explain the relationship between religious belief and altruism, or costly, prosocial behavior. Both theories agree that group selection plays an important role in cultural evolution, affecting psychological traits that individuals acquire through social learning. They disagree, however, about whether group selection has also played a role in genetic evolution, affecting traits that are inherited genetically. Recently, Jonathan Haidt has defended the most fully developed account based on genetic group selection, and I argue here that problems with this account reveal good reasons to doubt that genetic group selection has played any important role in human evolution at all. Thus, considering the role of group selection in religious evolution is important not just because of what it reveals about religious psychology and religious evolution, but also because of what it reveals about the role of group selection in human evolution more generally.


2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
V. N. Serebrova ◽  
E. A. Trifonova ◽  
V. A. Stepanov

2021 ◽  
pp. 34-42
Author(s):  
Olexandr Romanovskiy ◽  
Valentyna Mykhaylychenko ◽  
Nina Semke

the content of imposed on a person requirement of the modern era and the need for a new worldview are revealed. The content of the concepts “evolution” and “spirituality” is considered. The role of spirituality in human evolution and the formation of leaders’ worldview is shown. It was emphasized that leader’s worldview should be based on his broad humanitarian training, a new philosophy. The essence, approaches, methods of spiritual, moral and mental improvement and the role of the system of training, education and self-upbringing in the process of training future leaders are revealed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Michael C. Hawkins

This chapter examines the role of Moro bodies in the quantification of humanity at the St. Louis World's Fair. Although Moro bodies were routinely quantified in a variety of contexts, the real measure of the Moros' physical prowess was to be established in a grand athletic spectacle known as “Anthropology Days.” With the 1904 Olympics as a backdrop, anthropologist William J. McGee hoped the Anthropology Days would provide an undeniable comparison between “savage” and “civilized” athletes, thus diminishing emphasis on biological development and endorsing culture and technology as the primary measure of human difference. Ultimately, the Moros' role in the quantification of humanity served an important double function. The “semi-civilized” Moros allowed for notions of Caucasian superiority while simultaneously offering an analogy of physical and cultural improvement for all people, thus affirming the efficacy of colonial tutelage and universal human potential. In this way, the Moros were embedded firmly within the central arch of human evolution rather than on its extremes. Unlike “savage” live exhibits or indeed the exceptional Olympic athletes, Moros were more akin to average American patrons.


Author(s):  
Julie J. Lesnik

Ultimately the goal of the book is to reconstruct the role of insects over the course of human evolution. The aforementioned behavioral accounts will be combined with fossil evidence to reconstruct past diets and determine the role fulfilled by edible insects. This first paleoanthropology chapter focuses on australopithecines, our early ancestors on the hominin lineage. For these reconstructions, the data presented in the chapter on primates are especially enlightening. Chimpanzees as well as other apes tend to specialize in social insects such as termites and ants, making it likely that our earliest ancestors benefited from this behavior as well.


2019 ◽  
pp. 44-71
Author(s):  
Riane Eisler

This chapter introduces a new perspective on the role of love in human evolution and human development. The bonds of love, whether between parent and child, lovers, or close friends, may all have a common biological root, activating neurochemicals that make us feel good. Like other human capacities, such as consciousness, learning, and creativity, love has a long and fascinating evolutionary history. Indeed, the evolution of love appears to be integral to the development of our human brain and hence to much that distinguishes us from other species. Moreover, love plays a vital, though still largely unrecognized, role in human development, with evidence accumulating about the negative effects of love deprivation as well as the benefits of love. But whether or not our needs for meaning and love are met, and whether or not our capacities for creativity and love are expressed, are largely determined by the interaction of biology and culture—specifically, the degree to which a culture or subculture orients to the partnership or domination end of the continuum.


2020 ◽  
pp. 191-231
Author(s):  
Zoe Adams

This chapter explores the modern minimum wage framework in detail. The first section begins by exploring the background to the National Minimum Wage Act through the lens of the relationship between minimum wages and wage supplementation. The second section then explores the conceptual structure of the Act in more detail. In particular, it explores how an individual’s minimum wage entitlement is assessed; the types of ‘work’ that are either implicitly or expressly, excluded from the Act; and the content of the concept of the ‘wage’. It concludes with some remarks about what the Act’s structure implies about the legal system’s understanding of the role of minimum ‘wage’ regulation today.


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