Seminar of Cognitive Science - Tomáš Gál (30.4.2019)
Tuesday 30.4.2019 at 16:30, Lecture room I/9
PhDr. Ing. Tomáš Gál, PhD.:
Evolution of cognitive mechanisms related to religious thought and behaviour
Abstract:
In a narrow sense, religion is a unique feature of the human species. According to archaeological findings as well as research in anthropology, this ability is one of the oldest cultural features of a human kind. It has stood up with the rise of gene-cultural coevolution. Religion, in the meaning of religious thinking and religious behaviour, began to form a competitive advantage for human groups and individuals quickly. For groups, it was an additional strengthening mechanism, affecting closer cooperation, higher levels of intra-group altruism, better division of labour, and greater efficiency in resource gathering. Even it is not possible to name with certainty, which attributes of early human affective thinking emerge into religious, reflection of both, cultural and genetic evolution, may show us a way of evolution of religion and cognitive mechanisms, which allowed it and in a feedback loop, stimulating it further.