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Lädt ... Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religionvon E. Fuller Torrey
Books Read in 2022 (1,248) Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Amazing synthesis of different disciplines but some major flaws. One, assumes death anxiety pretty much a given once awareness of our own mortality occured. Two, oblivious to male bias in own work and those cited. Did not even attempt use of gender neutral or inclusive terms. ( ) Torrey presents an evolutionary theory for the emergence of religion: gods are the result of complex theory of mind, something that was not possible until relatively late in human evolution. My background is in anthropology, not neurobiology, but the pieces I am familiar with seem good and reliable. Although I would argue with some of Torrey's interpretations, they're not outrageous or even uncommon ones. I am a little skeptical of the neuroscience, largely because I know that things that seem scientific and incomprehensible tend to feel more reliable than they necessarily are, but I'm as impressed as I can be by a book about the functions of the human brain (a subject about which so many people are so tremendously wrong that I don't know that really accurate popular science can be written). Torrey relies a little bit too much on development as a mirror of evolution - both for human consciousness and for society and culture. The latter offends me more than the former, though both are unreliable guides, particularly when they're the only evidence offered. (Torrey also spends way too much space quoting anthropological texts from two centuries ago, which does not make those arguments more compelling.) However, he does an excellent job of emphasizing the unreliability of dates this old, the gradual effect of even "rapid" cultural change, and the range of human behavior that would have been important at any given time. The final chapter on other theories of religion is a useful summary both of Torrey's position and of the field in general, and provides a great many interesting references to follow up. This is a bit too academically-styled to be accessible to a popular audience, which is unfortunate, because it's an interesting theory that I think has the potential to be compelling. Zeige 3 von 3 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Auszeichnungen
Religion & Spirituality.
Science.
Nonfiction.
HTML:Religions and mythologies from around the world teach that God or gods created humans. Atheist, humanist, and materialist critics, meanwhile, have attempted to turn theology on its head, claiming that religion is a human invention. In this book, E. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to propose a startling answer to the ultimate question. Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods locates the origin of gods within the human brain, arguing that religious belief is a byproduct of evolution. Based on an idea originally proposed by Charles Darwin, Torrey marshals evidence that the emergence of gods was an incidental consequence of several evolutionary factors. Using data ranging from ancient skulls and artifacts to brain imaging, primatology, and child development studies, this book traces how new cognitive abilities gave rise to new behaviors. For instance, autobiographical memory, the ability to project ourselves backward and forward in time, gave Homo sapiens a competitive advantage. However, it also led to comprehension of mortality, spurring belief in an alternative to death. Torrey details the neurobiological sequence that explains why the gods appeared when they did, connecting archaeological findings including clothing, art, farming, and urbanization to cognitive developments. This book does not dismiss belief but rather presents religious belief as an inevitable outcome of brain evolution. Providing clear and accessible explanations of evolutionary neuroscience, Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods will shed new light on the mechanics of our deepest mysteries. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)200.1Religions Religion Religion Systems, scientific principles, psychology of religion, philosophy and religionKlassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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