Science & the Big Questions

Why Social Science Needs Evolutionary Theory

The lack of willingness to view human cognition and behavior as within the purview of evolutionary processes has prevented evolution from being fully integrated into the social science curriculum.

Nautilus

Topics: Cognition Cristine Legare Cultural Evolution Evolutionary Theory Social Behavior Social Learning

Did Human Sacrifice Help People Form Complex Societies?

The debate over how well ritual killings maintained social order.

The Atlantic

Topics: Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Power Ritual Scientific Study of Religion Social Inequality Violence

Culture and the Mind: A New Theory of Human Intelligence

What role might culture play in intelligence? And how does human culture differ from culture found in other animals?

Science Weekly, The Guardian

Topics: Animal Studies Cultural Evolution Human Uniqueness Intelligence Kevin Laland Language Social Learning

Who First Buried the Dead?

Evidence of burial rites by the primitive, small-brained Homo naledi suggests that symbolic behavior is very ancient indeed.

Aeon

Topics: Cultural Evolution Death Human Evolution Human Uniqueness Ritual

Less Unique Than We Think

The idea that humans are special bumps up against Darwin’s great insight: the continuity of all life. David Barash reviews The Creative Spark by Agustín Fuentes and Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony by Kevin N. Laland.

The Wall Street Journal

Topics: Cognition Cooperation Creativity Cultural Evolution Human Uniqueness Imagination

Would a Crumbling of Faith Really Make Humanity Less Moral?

If people figured out how to get along before religion, asks Frans de Waal, do we really need it?

Big Think

Topics: Cultural Evolution Morality Scientific Study of Religion

A Scientist’s New Theory: Religion Was Key to Humans’ Social Evolution

In humans’ mysterious journey to become intelligent, socializing creatures like no other in the animal world, one innovation played an essential role: religion. That’s the theory that a preeminent evolutionary scientist is setting out to prove.

The Washington Post

Topics: Cultural Evolution Scientific Study of Religion Social Networks

How Human Sacrifice Helped to Enforce Social Inequality

How could something as costly as human sacrifice have been so common in early societies? And why did these rituals need to be so dramatic and gory?

Aeon

Topics: Cultural Evolution Demography Ritual Social Inequality