Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society

One of the great intellectual battles of modern times is between evolution and religion. Until now, they have been considered completely irreconcilable theories of origin and existence. David Sloan Wilson's "Darwin's Cathedral" takes the radical step of joining the two, in the process proposing an evolutionary theory of religion that shakes both evolutionary biology and social theory at their foundations. The key, argues Wilson, is to think of society as an organism, an old idea that has received new life based on recent developments in evolutionary biology. If society is an organism, can we then think of morality and religion as biologically and culturally evolved adaptations that enable human groups to function as single units rather than mere collections of individuals? Wilson brings a variety of evidence to bear on this question, from both the biological and social sciences. From Calvinism in 16th-century Geneva to Balinese water temples, from hunter-gatherer societies to urban America, Wilson demonstrates how religions have enabled people to achieve by collective action what they never could do alone. He also includes a chapter considering forgiveness from an evolutionary perspective and concludes by discussing how all social organizations, even science, could benefit by incoporating elements of religion. Religious believers often compare their communities to single organisms and even to insect colonies. Astoundingly, Wilson shows that they might be literally correct. Intended for any educated reader, "Darwin's Cathedral" should change forever the way we view the relations among evolution, religion and human society.

About the Author :
David Sloan Wilson is a professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University. He is the author of The Natural Selection of Populations and Communities and coauthor of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior.

Review :
"Darwin's Cathedral is a masterpiece of clear thinking and even clearer writing. It is such a joy to read an important original contribution to science such as Wilson makes here, that can be read and valued by both professional and general readers. Darwin's Cathedral will go down as one of the classic treatises on the study of religion, alongside those produced by William James, Emile Durkheim, and Sigmund Freud, only Wilson's thesis has the added advantage of being scientifically testable." - Michael Shermer, author of How We Believe, Editor-in-Chief of Skeptic magazine, columnist for Scientific American