Abstract
Religion and religious beliefs have continued to play an important role in the evolution of the ability to cooperate at the level of large groups. It seems that natural selection favours selfishness rather than cooperative tendencies. Therefore, we suggest that cultural selection was necessary for the evolution of pro-social forms of behaviour. Cooperation is connected with conflicts, which are used to develop in-group cooperation. Here I show the possible impact of religion and religious beliefs on the development of an ability to cooperate, and to generate conflicts which are strictly connected with the possibility of in-group cooperation.
Highlights
Religion has long served many important functions
While in statistical terms the religious motivation may have been of lesser significance than non-religious motives, still under certain conditions the reference to religious conviction is capable of generating conflict situations
The mechanisms of natural selection, which promote individual survival and selfishness, implied the growth of cultural phenomena boosting the chances of group-survival
Summary
One of them consists in the regulation of social relations in terms of collaboration, cooperation, and of competition. Religion is typically presented as a cultural phenomenon conducive to developing cooperation and pro-social behaviour. Special emphasis is put on the role played in the development of intra-group trust, for instance, as a result of activating mechanisms typical of “parochial altruism” – exposing intra-group trust coming about in opposition to a competing and potentially threatening group. Religion and religious convictions can KONRAD SZOCIK motivate conflictual behaviour. Cooperation for the sake of rivalry and conflict is a frequent phenomenon. The purpose of the present article consists of focusing attention on some basic characteristics of religious convictions and of religion, which are connected with the capacity to motivate for cooperation and conflict
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