Subjektivische Paradigmen und Religiosität – eine soziologische Ergänzung des paläogenetischen Ansatzes

Abstract

The biological explanation for the origin of religiosity presented in this journal in 2014 is here supplemented by a sociological approach. It is proposed that the reduction of instincts in human neonates provides a selective advantage resulting from a genetic predisposition. This reduction of instincts, combined with a subjective world-view which develops in the postnatal ontogenesis of every individual (the so-called historico-genetic theory), could lead to the origin of religions. This leads to the conclusion that it is unlikely that early forms of religiosity are dependent on economic systems – an evolutionary separation into the occurrence of animism in hunter-gatherer societies and the belief in gods in agricultural societies is not possible. This interpretation is supported by ethnographic evidence.