Biological Altruism and the cultural-evolutionary roots of religion

dc.creator	Genet, Russell M.
dc.date	2009-10-19
dc.date.accessioned	2012-08-21T19:53:23Z
dc.date.available	2012-08-21T19:53:23Z
dc.date.issued	2012-08-21
dc.identifier	http://digilib.bu.edu/journals/ojs/index.php/jfse/article/view/168
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/2144/4015
dc.description	The unselfish, altruistic behavior of insect societies can be explained by way of unusually close genetic relatedness, while the cooperative behavior of chimpanzee and other distantly related mammalian social groups results from their daily, social \"fit-for-tat\" trading of favors. These sociobioiogical explanations, however, are inadequate to explain altruistic behavior among human groups with members numbering in the thousands or millions, groups consisting for the most part of genetically unrelated individuals with little or no daily social contact. Religion, cultural evolutionary theory suggests, may be the glue that binds them together.
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	Boston Theological Institute
dc.relation	http://digilib.bu.edu/journals/ojs/index.php/jfse/article/view/168/167
dc.source	Journal of Faith and Science Exchange; Journal of Faith and Science Exchange, Vol. 5
dc.title	Biological Altruism and the cultural-evolutionary roots of religion
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion