The Faith Instinct

Nicholas Wade was born in Aylesbury, England, and was "educated" at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge. He was deputy editor of Nature magazine in London and then that journal's Washington correspondent. He joined "Science" magazine as a reporter and later moved to "The New York Times,” where he has been an editorial writer, science editor, and now a science reporter. He is the author of four previous books and lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

出版者:The Penguin Press

作者:Nicholas Wade

页数:300

出版时间:November 2009

价格:USD 25.95

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781594202285

图书标签:进化心理学宗教人类进化李锡锟

For at least the last fifty thousand years, and probably much longer, people have practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it helped people in early societies survive?

In this original and controversial book, Nicholas Wade, a longtime reporter for the New York Times's Science section, gathers new evidence showing why religion became so essential in the course of human evolution and how an instinct for faith has been hardwired into human nature. This startling thesis is sure to catch the attention of both believers and nonbelievers. People of faith may not warm to the view that the mind's receptivity to religion has been shaped by evolution. Atheists may not embrace the idea that religious expression evolved because it conferred essential benefits on ancient societies and their successors. As The Faith Instinct argues, however, both groups must address the fact, little understood before now, that religious behavior is an evolved part of human nature.

How did we evolve to believe? Wade shows that the instinct for religious behavior is wired into our neural circuits much like our ability to learn a language. Religion provided the earliest human societies with the equivalents of law and government, giving these societies an edge in the struggle for survival. As a force that binds people together and coordinates social behavior, religion supported another significant set of social behaviors: aggression and warfare. Religious behavior, both good and ill will remain an indelible component of human nature so long as human societies need the security and cohesion that belief provides.

Social scientists once predicted that religion would progressively fade away as societies advanced in wealth and education. They were wrong. The first objective and nonpolemical book of its kind, The Faith Instinct reveals that to understand the persistence of faith, one must first acknowledge that religious behavior is embedded in human nature.

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很有趣！抱歉，我读的是日语版，没找到

十分偏见、着眼领域狭隘（相对于这本书的写作目标）并且缺乏实证性的证据支持，部分黑历史的分析章节略有趣

十分偏见、着眼领域狭隘（相对于这本书的写作目标）并且缺乏实证性的证据支持，部分黑历史的分析章节略有趣

很有趣！抱歉，我读的是日语版，没找到

很有趣！抱歉，我读的是日语版，没找到