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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 12 page research paper that examines a variety of questions concerning biology and current ideas about how it interacts with religion. Topics explored include memes and the work of Susan Blackmore, Consilience by Edward O. Wilson, the work of Gould and Wolfram, and more. Bibliography lists 12 sources.
Page Count:
12 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khmemque.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
elements of culture that are passed from one generation to the next by non-genetic means. Blackmore proposes that ideas, in the form of art, invention, religions, ideologies, etc., shape
our minds and cultures in a manner that is analogous to the way in which natural selection shapes the course of biological evolution (Miller, 2000). According to Blackmore, human culture
and psychology can be most accurately modeled as ecologies of cultural information, that is, "units that evolved through random variation and selection imitation to parasitize human brains" (Miller, 2000, p.
434). In regards to religion, Blackmore repeats theologian Hugh Pypers comment that "Western culture is the Bibles way of making more Bibles" (p. 192 in Blackmores text) (Miller, 2000,
p. 434). According to this view, religions spread and are popular because randomized imitation and not because of any intrinsic theological truth. However, as Miller (2000) points out this explanation
of religious culture pictures the world as made up of "minds and memes," and ignores the existence of the Catholic church, which historically has welded tremendous political, economic and
military power, "supported by the most advanced marketing and advertising technologies of the day (musical rituals, stained glass images, indoctrination centers called monasteries, and group tourism events called pilgrimages)"
(p. 434). How evolutionary theory (via Darwin and Dawkins) aids in understanding human migration, cultural development and social identity. Charles Darwin presented the notion that human
biology is the result of processes of natural selection that preserved and shaped the human race through the survival of the fittest specimens succeeding at preserving their genes through
reproduction. According to this model of human development, human migration occurred as people spread out in search of resources. Cultural development and social identity, likewise, developed as survival mechanisms. To
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