Apt Analogies and Misleading Metaphors: “Co-Evolution” and Other Biological Terms in Scientific Theories of Religious Evolution

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper discusses the definitions of “co-evolution” in biology and in scientific theories of religious evolution as an example for their use of biological terms. Sometimes this use is motivated by the vision of a general theory of macro-level evolution. There is a valid analogy between the co-evolution of biological species and “gene-culture co-evolution” in religious evolution. But the analogy does not refer to identical processes, and it might turn into a mere metaphor. This conclusion pertains to other terms describing religious evolution in correspondence to evolutionary biology.