Are behaviors like civility and good citizenship caused more by genetics or religion and parenting?
2006-06-23 02:00:12 · 8 answers · asked by Eric Inri 6 in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
This is a great question. I think that we can learn a lot from our non-human cousins... It is said that humans are the only animal with a 'metaphysical' sense... I've spoken with a neuroscientist about it, and I'm sure he could explain it better than me, but evidence suggests that humans are the only species with an awareness of the passing of time and a concept of its own mortality.
If this is true - and I'm not saying I completely believe that it is - then it suggests that religion may have developed to comfort people's fears of their own mortality. In other words, religion's fundamental purpose is to make people feel at peace with the concept of dying. Most of the rules that exist in religion can be shown to have existed before the religions themselves. Before Moses and the 10 Commandments, people who killed and stole were certainly judged as bad people. People who give up on religion still refrain from killing and stealing. In humans, I would say morality is primarily the result of parenting. In animals, it may or may not be genetic - I believe that animals can and do transfer information from one generation to another - but it certainly does not come from any concept of divine retribution.
Humans and other animals are much more similar than we seem to think!
2006-06-23 02:25:59 · answer #1 · answered by XYZ 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Religion is a creation of man. By nature, we as humans feel the need to be in control of our own lives as much as possible. When things seem beyond our control, we believe that we can at least pray or worship a supreme being in order to exercise our will for us. This way, we still believe that we are in control of our lives.
If animals lack the mental capacity for imagination, how could they create religion? And since animals have no complex understanding of the world that exists beyond their environment, what would they need religion for? A monkey in the Rain Forest is thinking about his next meal, not about changing the world.
2006-06-25 05:28:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
All of the above, but I feel it is more of a learned behavior caused by parenting and the area in which the person lives.
2006-06-23 03:14:24 · answer #3 · answered by bugsharmony 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they don't the ability to ask the questions that religions seek to answer. Animals don't think on the same plane that we do.
2006-06-23 03:13:26 · answer #4 · answered by rlw 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Youre assuming from our limited knowledge that they dont have a religion. Their codes of conduct are far more well defined. And havent you seen animals meditating?
2006-06-23 02:06:22 · answer #5 · answered by earthcitizen29 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't have religion and politics to effect their behavior
2006-06-23 15:14:56 · answer #6 · answered by rocker62 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do have religion ! They prey to the Banana God
2006-06-24 04:11:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NOBODY NEED RELIGION , its just a way to controle peoples, **** religions and politics
2006-06-23 02:10:39 · answer #8 · answered by ddddddd d 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋