#### [[Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson]] **Creator**:: [[David Sloan Wilson]] **Source**:: [[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Darwin's Cathedral]] #### ^citation Wilson, D. (2002) *Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society* ^citation #### ^blurb *Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society* is a 2002 book by [[David Sloan Wilson]] which proposes that [[religion]] is a multi-level adaptation—i.e., a product of [[cultural evolution]] developed through multi-level selection. ## Summaries ### Chapter 1 This chapter concerns itself with orientating the reader to be ready for the rest of the book. This includes dispelling preconceived notions that people familiar with the field have, as well as defining several core concepts. This book seems to be a rather influential in that it pushed for and re-popularized the power of [[group selection]] (or at least [[David Sloan Wilson]] did) after a period of intellectual vitriol from the scientific [[community]]. [[Group selection solves the fundamental problem of social life]] > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^288457438]] His examination of this problem includes looking at Darwin's solution, the reason it became a problem in later years, and then a thorough discussion of how to solve it. Wilson doesn't fully discredit the pushback against [[group selection]] but rather clarifies what it is and how it works, in light of the many problems and solutions that came as a result of rejecting [[group selection]]. ![[group selection#^e8dce2]] Wilson then starts to take stabs at [[kin selection]] and [[reciprocal altruism]] in earnest. He claims that if you view history through the lense of human groups as moral communities you will see many behaviors that work much better as a result of [[group selection]] then can be explained as a result of genetic relatives or those who will return the favor. This leads to the conclusions that [[What is the link between evolution and social behavior]], [[Highly integrated social control allows groups to act as adaptive units]] and [[Social control promotes highly altruistic behavior within groups]]. All throughout this chapter Wilson starts to make reference to the relation of these [[Evolution|evolutionary]] concepts and religion, morality, and the [[human experience]]. As he does this he starts to expand from [[group selection]] to [[Evolutionary Psychology]] and [[Cultural Evolution]]. Wilson again takes issue with and redefines [[Evolutionary Psychology]] to better reflect it's place in our understanding of [[human behavior]]. He pushes back against the "jukebox" argument that modern behaviors are just choosing records from our ancient [[biology]]. His main argument here is that this oversimplifies and over specifies. He remarks that [[Evolutionary Psychology is just a framework not a prescription of behavior]], but his main point is that [[Evolutionary Psychology]] is only being partially applied. [[Genetic evolution]] does not need to lead to modular traits because [[Evolution can create systems capable of natural selection]]. ^[[[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^292936697]]] This leads him fully into [[Cultural Evolution]], a process that does not change genes in the slightest and yet is highly adaptive and competitive. He offers four insights from [[group selection]] and then comes back to how human's form into adaptive groups. ![[Cultural Evolution#^68bb63]] This leads to [[Cultural evolution is not confined to the slow process of genetic evolution]] and [[Greater cooperation and communication has lead to the success of humans as a species]]. Finally this leads him to start directly connecting these ideas to [[religion]], through the idea that [[Belief can motivate adaptation]] and [[Religion promotes high social control]] ### Chapter 2 Wilson first reviews his reasons for approaching the subject of [[religion]], pointing out the not so obvious connections to [[Evolution]] that people in the [[social sciences]] have made. For this reasons he is going to turn and look at religion from their perspective first. He first covers the [[rational choice theory]] of [[religion]]. A theory that states [[Religion as a rational bid for supernatural reward]]. Wilson quickly points on that this view is non-adaptive due to it not delivering on this bid and that it does not solve [[Group selection solves the fundamental problem of social life|the fundamental problem of social life]]. Wilson then dives into the history of [[functionalism]], how [[Emile Durkheim]] studied religion through it, and how and why it has been left behind by rational choice theorists. The functionalist view of [[What is the origin of religion]] pushes back against previous spiritual explanations of [[religious belief]] such as [[Animism]] and [[Naturism]] in favor of [[Religion creates social order through group membership and ritual]]. Rational choice theorists such as [[Rodney Stark]] [[E. E. Evans-Pritchard]] and dismiss Durkheim more wholly: > ![[10_Sources/Readwise/Books/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^295490292]] This lead to time of complete dismantle of Durkheim's idea, but Wilson says that while many of Durkheim's ideas are antiquated, the general thesis of [[functionalism]] is not and that new ideas like [[Symbolism increases human's capacity for cooperation]] support his work. Wilson then goes on to state that the [[rational choice theory]] of religion is just as riddled with inconsistencies, and that [[E. E. Evans-Pritchard]]'s observations are in line with [[functionalism]]. Despite this, [[functionalism]] was reject by [[anthropology|anthropologists]] of the 20th century. Thus, Wilson then turns to [[philosophy]] to get a broader view of [[functionalism]] through the idea of [[Holism]]. Opposite of [[Holism]] is [[methodological individualism]], a view in the social sciences similar to [[individual selection]] in the way that it wholly superseded group level analysis in the 20th century. Similarly, this thinking has not stood up to scrutiny. Wilson connects the dissonance between individualism and holism back to [[Proximate explanation never substitutes for ultimate explanation in Evolution]]. [[Group selection]] allows for us to translate the concepts of [[Holism]] and [[functionalism]] onto [[human behavior]] through the lense of [[Cultural Evolution]]. ![[functionalism#^7e0ca9]] This is no simple task, as testing adaptation hypothesis is more difficult in [[Psychology]] and [[anthropology]] than [[biology]]. But just like how biologists must compare and contrast proximate explanations and ultimate explanations for [[natural selection]], we must do the same for [[group selection]]. Now that basic understanding of functionalism is out of the way, Wilson starts to dig deep into how natural selection has been missed as part of [[human behavior]]. His argument boils down to: - [[Natural selection is a designing agent]] - [[Complex interaction can arise from simple properties]] - [[Intentionality is not separate from functionality]] [[Human behavior is selective]] with the caveat that is hard that this selection is not always conscious or that the selector may not be aware of all conditions [[Why is it hard to understand how our environment effects us]] This leads him back to [[rational choice theory]], and how it's statement that [[religion]] is a byproduct is weak, and proposes how it could be included. ### Chapter 3