Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: This article provides a contemporary understanding of the human mind according to the viewpoint of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. The author outlines the principles of natural selection as they were proposed by Charles Darwin and traces how these principles can be applied to the evolution of the human brain and mind. The brain is a grouping of several modules that were each selected for by evolution because they allowed for success in reproduction and survival. The mind (and brain) developed, to a large degree, as a result of human social interaction in its own evolutionary process. In general, for humans, success in survival and reproduction required an individual to act altruistically to fellow members of one's in-group and antagonistically to member's of another group. As part of this complex social dynamic, the author describes theories about how the mind needed to develop abilities to detect deception and reciprocal ("altruistic") behavior in others. The idea that humans are ultimately the result of millions of years of an impersonal process of natural selection has important implications for ethics and religion. The author suggests that religion, too, can be understood as an evolutionary process in that religious authorities define ethics and espouse their own fixed view of reality so as to ensure in-group reciprocity (and thus survival). The findings of modern science ask us to confront our own history in an impersonal universe of ever-changing processes. The fact that humans are the result of many years of evolutionary development and brain and mind can be understood as a grouping of modules perfected over time for survival, reproduction, and existence amongst other humans suggests that metaphysical notions of a real self, soul, or God are no longer tenable. While evolutionary view is not compatible with most religions, Buddhism shares an affinity for eschewing a soul or independent self and emphasizes impersonal factors that come together to make us human. (Zach Rowinski 2004-12-31)

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