Abstract
A Darwinian model of the evolution of religion is obliged to use biological analogies on higher system levels. Such models suggest a synergy between processes literally driven by biological evolution, and others which are Darwinian by analogy. To provide a biological background for a proposed synthesis, this chapter charts the biological theory of evolution in a concise form. Successive historic stages are designated by version numbers, from Darwinism to Modern Evolutionary Synthesis. This overview demonstrates that explanations of religious evolution which comprise selectionist analogies with biological evolution are not consistently supported by the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology: At least, neutral evolution, evolutionary constraints and drift effects should be taken into account. Especially, the drift barrier hypothesis has surprising applications. As an example for “loaded” evolution, human eusociality—a disputed description of the social behavior of humans—is discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
Authors mentioned in this paragraph are not listed as references: see Pigliucci and Mueller (2010).
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Hemminger, H. (2021). Evolution: The Modern Synthesis. In: Evolutionary Processes in the Natural History of Religion. New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion , vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70408-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70408-7_5
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