Reproductive advantage
From wikireligiosus
In his lecture Die überschätzte Vernunft (engl. The overrated reason) in 1982 at Keßheim Castle, Friedrich August von Hayek formulated an evolutionary theory of religion, which linked its biocultural evolution to (on average) higher numbers of surviving offspring. In a Chapter called "Selektion der Religionen - Selection of religions", Hayek proposed:
Genauso wie sich biologische Eigenschaften des Körpers entwickelt haben, wenn sie der Fortpflanzung geholfen haben, wenn sie das gefördert haben, was die Biologen gerne mit dem Ausdruck >reproductive advantage<, reproduktiver Vorteil bezeichnen, so haben sich auch die kulturellen Elemente nach dem Prinzip ausgesucht, daß sich naturgemäß jene Menschengruppen schneller vermehrt haben, die Institutionen entwickelt haben, die ihrer Vermehrung günstig waren.
Cited after: F.A. von Hayek, W. Kerber (ed.): Die Anmaßung von Wissen, Mohr Tübingen 1996, p. 96
Translation:
Exactly as biological traits of the body developped if they enhanced procreation, if they augmented what biologists like to call >reproductive advantage<, cultural elements have been selected according to the principle, that naturally those human groups multiplied faster that were sustained by institutions favourable to multiplying.
Hayek expanded on his theory in his late The Fatal Conceit in 1988.
Validation
The reproductive effect of religions has been tested and found in a range of demographic and case studies.
- Blume, Michael (2009). The Reproductive Benefits of Religious Affiliation, in: Voland, E.; Schiefenhövel, W.: The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior, Springer Frontier Collection 2009
A higher number of children among the religious has been detected in all nations participating in the World Value Surveys and extreme cases as the Shakers (all-celibate, declining) or the Amish (highly fertile, expanding exponentially) verified the hypotheses of intra-religious selection.
Literature
- Adsera, Alicia. Marital Fertility and Religion: Recent Changes in Spain, Population Studies, 2006, 60 (2), 205-221
- Blume, Michael (2009). The Reproductive Benefits of Religious Affiliation, in: Voland, E.; Schiefenhövel, W.: The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior, Springer Frontier Collection 2009
- Hayek, Friedrich & Kerber, W. (1996). Die Anmaßung von Wissen, Mohr Siebeck 1996 (includes the Keßheim-lecture in German)
- Hayek, Friedrich (1988). The Fatal Conceit (includes Religion and the Guardians of Tradition, and Appendices)
- Kaufmann, Eric (2010). Shall the Religious inherit the Earth?, Profile Books 2010
- Sacks, Jonathan (1999). Morals and Markets: Seventh Annual Iea Hayek Memorial Lecture, IEA 1999
- Vaas, Rüdiger, Blume, Michael (2009). Gott, Gene und Gehirn. Warum Glaube nützt. Zur Evolution der Religiosität., Hirzel 2009
Blogposts
- Why do atheists have fewer kids?, in: Epiphenomen, September 2009
- Why Rabbi Sacks is wrong on religion and fertility, in: Epiphenomen, November 2009
- Homo religiosus. The natural history of religion, in: Chronolog "Biology of Religion", May 2009
