The Bio-Evolutionary Approach to Religions: A Study of David Wilson's Perspective

Document Type : Original Research

Author
Haleh Abdullahi Rad
Ph. D. Graduate of Philosophy of Religion, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran.
10.30497/prr.2021.4721.1682
Abstract
Biologically, one of the most important and distinguishing features of human beings compared to early mammals is culture, which includes political and social institutions, religious and moral traditions. According to bio-genetic studies, religions as a universal culture have a high degree of heritability; Thus, the characteristic of religiosity is inherited from the middle-aged generation by the younger generation. David Wilson, an American biologist, sees religion as a "multilevel adaptation" and product of cultural evolution, shaped by participation and solidarity between groups, and what has led to the survival of religions throughout history and their diversity in different cultures. The direction of solidarity of religious groups is based on practical realism. In Wilson's view, there is no point in arguing for the true reality of religious propositions, and what matters only is the usefulness of the propositions. This kind of explanation of the causes of the emergence and survival of religions throughout human history, epistemologically poses many challenges that are particularly significant in propositional religions and attributed to divine revelation. In this article, Wilson's views are expressed in detail and criticized, and it will be argued that the formation of religious knowledge in a believer can not be explained only by a utilitarian-oriented view based on evolutionary explanations and the role of other epistemological, religious, rational, and emotional components should not be ignored. 
Keywords
Wilson
Evolutionary Theory
Cultural Evolution
Functionalism
Unifying Systems  
طباطبایی. محمدحسین. 1383.  تفسیر المیزان. ترجمه محمدباقر موسوی همدانی. قم: دفتر انتشارات اسلامی.
کیوپیت. دان. 1389. دریای ایمان. ترجمه حسن کامشاد. تهران: طرح نو.
Atran, Scott. 2002. In gods we trust: The evolutionary landscape of religion. Oxford University Press.
Ayala, Francisco J. 2007. Darwin's Gift: To Science and Religion. United Kingdom: National Academies Press.
Ayala, Francisco J., and Camilo Cela-Conde. 2004. “Evolution of Morality,” pp. 171-190, in Handbook of Evolution: The Evolution of Human Societies and Cultures, edited by Christoph Antweiler, Franz M. Wuketits. Germany: Wiley-VCH.
Boyer, Pascal. 2004. “Religion, evolution, and cognition,” pp. 430-433, in In gods we trust: The evolutionary landscape of religion, edited by Scott Atran. Oxford University Press.
Bulbulia, Joseph, and Marcus Frean. 2009. “Religion as superorganism: On David Sloan Wilson, Darwin’s cathedral (2002),” in Contemporary Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion, edited by Michael Stausberg. New York: Routledge.
Flint, Thomas P. 2010. “Providence,” pp. 329-336, in A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, edited by Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, Philip L. Quinn. Blackwell.
Futuyma, Douglas J. 2005. Evolution. Sinauer Associates.
Haught, John F. 2008. God and the new atheism: a critical response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. Westminster John Knox Press.
Sober, Elliott, and David Sloan Wilson. 1998. Unto others: the evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sosis, Richard. 2003. "Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society-By David Sloan Wilson." Evolution and Human Behavior 2(24): 137-143.
Wilson, David Sloan, and Edward O. Wilson. 2007. “Rethinking the theoretical foundation of sociobiology.” The Quarterly review of biology 82(4): 327-348.
Wilson, David Sloan. 2002.  Darwin’s cathedral: evolution, religion, and the nature of society. The University of Chicago Press.
Wilson, Edward Osborne. 1975. Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
Wilson, Edward Osborne. 1978. On human nature. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wuketits, Franz M., and Christoph Antweiler (eds.). 2004. Handbook of Evolution: The Evolution of Human Societies and Cultures. Germany: Wiley-VCH.