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David Sloan Wilson

Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society Paperback – Illustrated, October 1, 2003

by David Wilson (Author)

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One of the great intellectual battles of modern times is between evolution and religion. Until now, they have been considered completely irreconcilable theories of origin and existence. David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral takes the radical step of joining the two, in the process proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations.

The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments in evolutionary biology. If society is an organism, can we then think of morality and religion as biologically and culturally evolved adaptations that enable human groups to function as single units rather than mere collections of individuals? Wilson brings a variety of evidence to bear on this question, from both the biological and social sciences. From Calvinism in sixteenth-century Geneva to Balinese water temples, from hunter-gatherer societies to urban America, Wilson demonstrates how religions have enabled people to achieve by collective action what they never could do alone. He also includes a chapter considering forgiveness from an evolutionary perspective and concludes by discussing how all social organizations, including science, could benefit by incorporating elements of religion.

Religious believers often compare their communities to single organisms and even to insect colonies. Astoundingly, Wilson shows that they might be literally correct. Intended for any educated reader, Darwin's Cathedral will change forever the way we view the relations among evolution, religion, and human society.

Print length

268 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

October 1, 2003
Dimensions

6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0226901351
ISBN-13

978-0226901350
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"As always, Wilson writes well and clearly and in a stimulating and provocative style. The book is interesting and important, and there can be no higher praise. . . . I applaud the approach taken by Wilson, and I urge you to read Darwin's Cathedral."

-- Michael Ruse ― Science

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year

― Times Literary Supplement

"Thoughtful and provocative. . . . Wilson turns to religion, which, he claims, can be explained only by group selection. According to Wilson, a religion is the human equivalent of a pack of lions: by cooperating as a group, people attain benefits beyond their reach as individuals."

― Times Literary Supplement

"What kind of Jekyll-and-Hydra-headed beast is this thing called religious faith? In the view of Wilson . . . a very natural and very powerful beast indeed, and one that helps explain humanity's rise to global dominance. Wilson, a renowned evolutionary biologist, proposes that religion—with all of its institutional, emotional, and prescriptive trappings—ranks as a kind of mega-adaptation: a trait that evolved because it conferred advantages on those who bore it."

-- Natalie Angier ― New York Times

"Obviously, the main subject of Darwin's Cathedral—religion—is widely contentious. In addition, many of the subjects which Wilson draws to interpret religion—subjects such as group selection, adaptation, hypothesis testing, and how to 'do' science—are contentious among scientists. Discussions of these subjects tend to be partisan, oversimplified, and riddled with misstatements. A great virtue of Wilson's book is the scrupulous fairness with which he treats controversial matters. He is careful to define concepts, to assess both their range of applicability and their limitations, and to avoid posturing, misrepresentations, exaggerated claims, and cheap rhetorical devices. Thus, Wilson's book is more than just an attempt to understand religion. Even to readers with no interest in either religion or science, his book can serve as a model of how to discuss controversial subjects honestly."

-- Jared Diamond ― New York Review of Books

"This is a rare work of science, both hard and social, that approaches religion from a positive perspective. As such, almost everyone . . . will undoubtedly take issue with it. But is not provocation one of the reasons books are published? . . . . I think this would be a fascinating book to discuss in a book club."

-- Herman A. Peterson ― Catholic Library World

"By forcing us to consider religious faith as a crucial factor in human evolution, Wilson simultaneously invites us to celebrate the beauty and motivating power of religion."

-- Robert C. Fuller ― Religious Studies Review

“It is not until biologist Wilson published Darwin’s Cathedral that the evolutionary study of religion appears to have passed a Rubicon. . . . Fifteen years after . . . , Wilson continues to make substantial contributions to the evolutionary study of religion. . . . We appreciate and celebrate the fifteen-year anniversary of Wilson’s seminal theoretical contributions in Darwin’s Cathedral, which propelled the contemporary evolutionary study of religion forward. We hope that his current work has a parallel impact, encouraging collaborative fieldwork, which will ultimately advance the empirical study of religion.”

― Religion, Brain & Behavior

From the Inside Flap

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 268 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226901351
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226901350
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #133,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #148 in Sociology & Religion
- #210 in Science & Religion (Books)
- #738 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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67 ratings

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Graham H. Seibert

A book whose time has come. Immensely relevant in 2019.

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2019

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Amazon reviews are consistently among the best written, most intelligent commentary on the Internet. The early reviews of this book by Rob Hardy, Todd Stark and Herbert Calhoun are up to the highest standard.

I am giving the book itself a five-star recommendation, and I give these reviews an equally high recommendation. Read them to convince yourself that you need to buy it.

What can I add, 17 years after publication?

Evolutionary psychology has made immense progress in this period. Our understanding of the human genome has progressed extremely rapidly. Among the things we have learned is that somewhere on the order of 85% of our genome is dedicated to brain function, and that heritability affects human intellect and personality more than could have been imagined as this book was written.

Wilson addresses a few related themes:
(1) Fitness can be defined, and organisms can evolve as groups as well as individuals. Although genes obviously have to be passed down from individual parents to individual offspring, the genetic makeup of a larger unit of selection effects the fitness of the individuals within the group.
(2) Human beings all belong to numerous, disjoint groups, of which the church is usually one. Every group offers the individual some advantage, and demand something in return. The exchange is not made on the basis of rational considerations of quid pro quo – the thesis that Wilson goes out of his way to dismiss. Participation in groups is often unconscious, and follows rules of unconscious evolution.
(3) Human beings are not able to be fully rational in any circumstance. Even scientists, who stated objective is dispassionate objectivity, cannot manage it. To reject religion as irrational doesn't make sense. Nothing we do makes total, abstract sense. Though Wilson doesn't make the case, the most basic measure of fitness – number of children – itself is irrational. Having children is simply not a rational decision. It is not irrational – it is beyond rationality. So is religion.

Wilson's unique contribution is to apply the tools of evolutionary biology to the evolution of religion, as a group phenomenon involving in itself, and as a manifestation of religiosity among individual people.

The book is worth reading simply for the beautiful examples he uses to illustrate his point: the Nuer a tribe of tall warriors in South Sudan, the Balinese water Temple system and guppy populations of South American streams and rivers.

Wilson mentions in passing the fact that many belief systems other than religion are held with the same unexamined tenacity as religion. In this day and age, I would number among them climate change and the denial in the face of overwhelming evidence of the genetic differences among human populations. In short, diversity.

Religion is coming back in fashion among evolutionary psychologists. This book was recommended by Dr. Edward Dutton via his YouTube channel "The Jolly Heretic." A look at Dutton's work will convince the reader of how absolutely relevant Wilson has become. A five-star effort all around.

11 people found this helpful

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Shevek

Religion as something special

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2018

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It was a hard read for me, maybe a little bit above my "paygrade". David Wilson have done a nice work trying to apply evolutionary science based hypothesis to the study of religion. One is group theory, which is not mainstream supported by other evolutionary biologists (my understanding and I could be wrong). Also he uses some of the conclusions to defend religions in general against the position of new atheists: this is a low point for me at least. However he notes that religion can be similar to other needed belief systems like patriotism still is unique and should be studied separately or as a special case. Which is not clear for me: there are many things that emerge from our symbolic brains, and each of them builds on lower structures of thought, patriotism, religion, are in the higher level, but they are not special cases. Ironically he recognizes that religious people will not like his thesis, which is based on evolutionary thinking! And reduces religion as a group mechanism to increase its fitness.

One person found this helpful

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Bill

Dense and infelicitous: not for the layman, but for a post-grad, I suppose

Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2020

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In an age when our cultural awareness of the global multiplicity of religions, as well as the general notions of processes of evolution, are fairly broad, the themes of this book appealed to me. I was looking for deeper insight. While there is such insight to be had here, it feels like too little for too much effort.
After hearing the author in a podcast, I leaped for this book.
This, to me, a decently educated layman, seems like a 23 page thesis expanded literally tenfold, into the weeds of very academic reviews of extant sociological, anthropological, historical, and biological evolutionary theories. I didn’t find anything that I didn’t expect to find, but simply too much of it, and that stuff I do not feel any desire to investigate further.
Perhaps this book is for a post-graduate level, and would be a treat for such a student, but for insights into the structure and evolution of human morality (without wholly tackling religion itself as a subject) I have found Jonathan Haidt’s Righteous Mind a more approachable read.

One person found this helpful

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Joshua

An interesting look at the role of religion.

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2020

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Religion is essentially a framework for groups to understand and interpret the world. It is a tool for bringing about unity and socially adaptive behavior. People like to see the world through story, and religion offers a meta-story by which people can understand the world in a meaningful way. Also, because "story" is so universally understood and appreciated, it offers an inter-subjective reality for each member of the group to reference in regard to the customs that result from the religious story.

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Gabor Laszlo Varkonyi

Group selection explained

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2013

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For a long time, group selection did not seem logical to me: as Richard Dawkins and others have explained it on numerous occasions, even if a cooperating group could in principle always defeat individualists, any such group will be highly vulnerable to free-riding cheaters, to the point that cheaters would eventually take over any such group, thereby destroying any possible advantages cooperation might have had.

The explanation for group selection is simple. (Once you've understood it.) What if non-cheating members could cooperate not only against outsiders, but they would also monitor the group itself, policing the cheaters? If the cost of policing is low, and the punishment imposed on cheaters is grave, than once such a cooperating group has been created (by accident, by some pre-adaptations coming together in a lucky way, etc., no need to explain it now), then from that point on it will be an evolutionarily stable equilibrium. This much we can find out sitting at our desks, it is as simple and logical a concept as evolution itself - yet just as deceptively elusive. Just one such elusive point is that policing the cheaters of course means delimiting the group as well - the category of cheaters presumably includes non-members as well. Another elusive point is that there is no need to start from a kinship group, although having kinship will of course smooth things out. If a group can enhance the fitness of all of its members, than even a non-kinship group can work well. It can even work well if it only increases the fitness on average.

Once we've established that in principle there could be group selection if there is policing inside the group, combing out cheaters, we can turn to the next question of whether we can find it in reality. David Sloan Wilson gives some examples from the animal kingdom but then turns to humans. After all, his main topic is nothing less but religion as an organising force among humans, which - David Sloan Wilson suspects - could just as well be a vehicle of such group selection. He first examines morality itself, which could hardly have evolved if it was easy to fake. Apparently (despite the proliferation of psychopaths among us) nobody can consistently fake being a reasonably good person, unless one really is one.

The author then goes on to show that religious systems are complex moral systems and group organising forces, which usually enhance the fitness of their members both through changing their behaviour for their own good (think about how practicing Catholics have more children on average than us nonbelievers or how the religious tend to abuse drugs less than the nonreligious) and for making them altruistic towards other members of the group (which will lead to numerous advantages, even if some will inevitably be lost to some unavoidable cheating). He gives some examples of religious groups which don't enhance fitness: the Shakers refrained from having sex altogether, much like Catholic priests, monks, and nuns (it should be emphasised that Catholics only prescribe such behaviour to a very small portion of their members), and after adoption from orphanages became impossible, they simply died out. Orphanages themselves are a relatively modern invention, a cult like the Shakers could not have existed before that at all. In other words, if a religion harms its members' fitness, it will go extinct. If it doesn't enhance it - other religious groups will tend to outcompete it, as has happened with Paganism vis-à-vis Christianity.

David Sloan Wilson gives many examples of how religions tend to enhance their members' fitness, the most detailed example being Calvinism (where because of the concept of predestination converts were not easily accepted), but then he goes on to analyse the Bali temples, Judaism, and early Christianity.

One of the other reviewers mentions that the author has a "Christian stance". That might be the case, and I might have been a superficial reader, but from the book I found no evidence of his being a Christian. The argument that "being a Christian is good for you in this world" doesn't strike me as particularly religious (although some Christians have made this argument to me before), actually it sounds like an atheistic way of explaining why one needs religion even while not believing any of the fairy tales of a resurrecting Son of God and His being one God in three divine persons. A Christian he might be, but here he is presenting us with an atheistic explanation of religion: after all, if religion was an evolutionary disadvantage, then its persistence would be a difficult thing to explain for nonbelievers. Not any more!

6 people found this helpful

Dr. Glockenspiel

La revanche darwinienne des groupes.

Reviewed in Canada on July 18, 2018

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Wilson soutient que les groupes sociaux constituent des unités adaptatives biologiques sous certaines conditions, et que les religions figurent parmi les ensembles de croyances et de comportements par lesquels les groupes satisfont de telles conditions. Elles y parviennent par la sacralisation des biens pour l'obtention desquels la collaboration est nécessaire, et par l'octroi, aux croyances et comportements collaboratifs pertinents, d'un halo de sérieux, de gravité et de prescription. Les groupes religieux, églises et monastères se décrivent eux-mêmes en recourant aux métaphores du corps ou de la ruche, et cette vision d'eux-mêmes, apprend-on, a un fondement scientifique d'après la théorie de l'évolution.

Dans la défense de cette thèse, l'auteur met à distance une période de construction de la théorie biologique, l'âge de l'individualisme (le gène égoïste, l'élimination des groupes), qu'il considère à juste titre un mauvais tournant ("a "wrong turn"). Le présent ouvrage est une contribution, non au retour à une défense axiomatique du bien collectif comme valeur adaptative, mais une contribution au juste milieu à éclaircir entre la référence à l'individu et au groupe compris biologiquement : comme des acteurs de modification du milieu, et de réponse aux pressions sélectives du milieu. Les partisans de l'individualisme ont commis une erreur, notamment en calculant la valeur moyenne du succès reproductif sans tenir compte des groupes ("the averaging fallacy"). Wilson prend soin de rétablir la procédure permettant de soutenir et de vérifier empiriquement la sélection de groupes.

Nous rencontrons plusieurs éclaircissements théoriques dont le but est bénéficier à la défense de ce point de vue. Les mécanismes fondamentaux de l'évolution darwinienne sont mis de l'avant (diversification phénotypique, héritabilité, rétention sélective), de manière à montrer pourquoi la diversification pertinente, et la suite du processus, débordent le cadre uniquement génétique pour embrasser celui, culturel, des comportements prescrits par la coordination et la production de bénéfices collectifs.

La voie privilégiée par Darwin afin d'expliquer nos aptitudes morales est reprise et défendue sous le nom de théorie sélective multi-niveau : celle-ci permet de résoudre l'aporie présumée selon laquelle les comportements moraux, ne favorisant pas la survie et la reproduction de leurs auteurs, bénéficient au contraire aux profiteurs qui, eux, prospéreraient et verraient leurs gènes mieux représentés de génération en génération. La théorie multi-niveau dénoue cette apparente tension de la théorie en rétablissant la distinction entre compétition interne au groupe, et compétition entre groupes. Si un comportement moral ou altruiste ne bénéficie pas à son auteur aux plans survie et reproduction au sein de son groupe, mais qu'il favorise un taux de survie et de reproduction moyenne supérieur à celui des autres groupes démunis d'agents moraux ou altruistes, le premier s'avère avantagé au plan évolutif, adaptatif.

Wilson précise que le contrôle social est une notion permettant de diminuer le coût de l'altruisme sacrificiel présumé si difficile à satisfaire, y compris dans une théorie multi-niveau : ce contrôle consiste en un bien de deuxième ordre ("causing another to perform a public good is itself a public good" p.19). Un groupe peut ainsi être richement doté en agents orientés au "service public" sans pourtant devoir encourir de lourds sacrifices aux plans de leur chance reproductive.

Du code génétique à la cellule jusqu'aux sociétés en passant par les ruches et les fourmilières, l'histoire de la vie est ponctuée de 8 transitions caractérisées par un même mécanisme fondamental : la suppression de la compétition entre individus, et la relocalisation de la compétition au niveau du groupe comme méta-organisme avec d'autres groupes ("from groups of organisms to groups as organism"). Le rattachement de la thèse de l'ouvrage à cette logique de l'histoire du vivant, que Wilson considère être un nouveau paradigme, initié par Lynn Margulis, par John Maynard Smith & Eörs Szathmáry (auxquels on peut ajouter François Jacob, voir le dernier chapitre de La logique du vivant, une histoire de l'hérédité, est éclairante et stimulante. Le corollaire, dans la théorie évolutionniste du groupe, de l'émergence de la morale religieuse est l'accroissement de la rivalité intergoupes (ainsi que nombre d'auteurs, dont Joshua Greene, Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them, l'ont démontré, à la suite d'un article phare de Samuel Bowles, 2009, Did Warfar Among Ancestral Hunter-Gatherers Affect the Evolution of Human Social Behaviors).

La distinction entre causes prochaines et causes lointaines (avec leur mécanisme correspondant) est un des autres piliers théoriques sur lesquels Wilson construit sa thèse, ainsi que sa critique des théories rivales de la religion dans une perspective de sciences sociales et de théorie de l'évolution.

La reprise et la défense de la vision durkheimienne de la religion contre les théories rivales, dont celle de l'acteur rationnel, semble devoir être située au coeur de la démarche et de la réflexion de Wilson. Lorsque celui-ci écrit : « It often seems as if the integration of biology and the social sciences is a one-way street, more a conquest by biology than a fertile interchange. Here is a case where the influence needs to flow the other way », le Here est bel et bien la théorie durkheimienne de la religion comprise comme représentation symbolique de la société, comprenant une distinction Sacrée/Profane. Les agents qui partagent un même ensemble de croyances et comportements relatifs aux entités et objets sacrés (ce qui est au-dessus d'eux et qui leur commande respect et déférence) sont dotés, en même temps que d'une représentation du groupe qu'ils forment, des guides pour la conduite de leur vie en groupe -- des guides de coordination pour l'obtention des avantages séculiers que sont les bénéfices du travail collectif, les bénéfices de la résolution des conflits et du pardon.
Les pré-requis à satisfaire afin de constituer le symbolisme (la description métaphorique de soi du groupe, c'est-à-dire sa saisie sous une forme imagée, malléable en pensée) et le sacré en objets de la science biologique ont trait à l'impact de l'un et de l'autre sur les comportements individuels - ce dont on peut convenir aisément.

Les chapitres à caractère empirique, dans lesquels Wilson veut démontrer la justesse de l'organicisme ou fonctionnalisme religieux au plan biologique (le groupe religieux comme organisme s'adaptant à un environnement de relations sociales) portent sur les avantages séculiers de (1) la réforme calvinienne, mesurées à partir d'une comparaison de la ville de Genève avant et après l'implantation des catéchismes pertinents (lesquels comprennent des prescriptions sur les hommes entre eux, à chaque niveau hiérarchique, et les relations entre Dieu et hommes); les avantages séculiers - ici-bas - d'(2) une église chrétienne établie par et pour des immigrations coréens de première génération aux États-Unis contemporains, d'(3) une étude du pardon chrétien dans la temporalité de rédaction des évangiles -- de ses avantages séculiers dans l'adaptation des premières églises à des contraintes, à des ennemis, et à des destinataires spécifiques ("Context-sensitivity is the key for understanding the nature of Christian forgivenss » p. 217), et de (4) une hypothèse explicative du cycle de vie des religions (de culte, de secte à Église, puis de secte et à culte).

En plus de la mise en place de l'armature théorique, une portion significative de livre est destinée à relever le défi consistant à se mesurer à une multitude de disciplines ayant toutes porté sur la religion des regards à la fois profonds (au plan des intentions) et contrastés : anthropologie, sociologie, "science" des religions, notamment. Ainsi, nous avons droit à un éventail d'exposés détaillés sur le sacré chez les Nuer (le chef à la peau de léopard, institution de résolution des différends) et chez une tribut chrétienne nomade du Monténégro, ainsi qu'à l'exposé de la théorie d'auteurs embrassant une vision adaptative au niveau individuel, ou exaptive (un "byproduct" de la pensée calculant les coûts/bénéfice dans un marchandage avec des puissances invisibles, pour l'obtention de biens inatteignables) de la religion.

Le projet d'établissement d'un programme de recherche pour la généralisation, au-delà des sources chrétiennes, de la définition organismique avancée dans ce livre est dessiné au chapitre 5. Il faut espérer que ce projet ait continuer d'avancer. Il est constructif et il renouvelle considérablement la perspective dans laquelle la religion a été jusqu'ici théorisée dans une perspective évolutionniste/aire. Wilson procède dans un esprit, non de confrontation, mais d'admiration pour certains aspects de la religion, notamment pour son efficacité à souder des groupes coopératifs et moraux. Certains (Daniel Denett en particulier) ont durement attaqué Wilson pour ces concessions quant aux variétés de réalismes qu'il nous faudrait admettre dans notre vision du monde et notre théorie de la connaissance : réalisme pratique, réalisme factuel (voir le dernier chapitre). Cet aspect de l'ouvrage peut être le plus susceptible de déplaire mais aussi de stimuler d'autres réflexions; lesquelles gagnent à être rapprochées de celles de Scott Atran et du Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (voir L'Etat islamique est une révolution), qui mettent la valeur adaptative de la religion en contexte de conflits sous un éclairage dense et puissant.

Cet ouvrage est fort recommandable par sa clarté, par la nature de son entreprise, et par l'exemplarité avec laquelle Wilson argumente sur un sujet aussi controversé que la religion et son apport en bénéfices collectifs séculiers. La soudure des actions, des croyances et de l'appartenance semble s'être constamment défaite après que celle des dieux aux hommes aient été constatées, puis déclarées, mortes ou inopérantes. Peut-on retrouver la première sans la seconde ? Cette question demeure au coeur de la modernité philosophique et politique. Puisse un ouvrage comme Darwin's Cathedral nous éclairer sur l'impuissance et l'insuccès séculier que nous avons eu à y répondre, et sur ce qu'il convient de faire et de penser.

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Carola neumann

Aufschlussreiches Buch trotz "schrägem" Titel.

Reviewed in Germany on April 10, 2016

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Der Autor bekennt sich als Atheist. Als Evolutionsbiologe bringt er sich jedoch in Gegensatz zum Atheistenpapst Dawkins. Er vertritt eine Mehrebenen-Selektion. Für die weltweiten religiösen Phänomene postuliert er einen rein biologischen Überlebensvorteil. Es gelingt ihm, das überzeugend darzustellen, sowohl an einer afrikanischen Stammesreligion wie am frühen Christentum, den Calvinisten des 16. Jahrhunderts und heutigen US-Lokalkirchen.
Titel und Titelbild sollten wohl für maximale Aufmerksamkeit sorgen.

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Alí Sánchez

Bien

Reviewed in Mexico on November 19, 2018

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El libro llegó en tiempo y forma. Abarca un análisis entre la teoría evolutiva y la consolidación del sistema religioso judeocristiano.

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Samuel Sinate

Great

Reviewed in India on July 6, 2021

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Great cover and paper. Nice to read

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