"One such evolutionary system, or ridge, encompasses panhuman emotional faculties, or affective "programs." These include the basic, or primary, emotions that Darwin first identified: surprise, fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust, and perhaps contempt. Certain reactions characteristic of the neurophysiology of surprise and fear are already evident in reptiles, and the other primary emotions are at least apparent in monkeys and apes. Then there are the secondary, mostly "social" emotions, such as anxiety, grief, guilt, pride, vengeance, and love. These may be unique to humans-hence, at the lower level in our evolutionary mountain landscape and somewhat more liable to cultural manipulation and variation than the primary, "Darwinian" emotions. Thus, only humans seek revenge or redemption across lifetimes and generations, whatever the cost, although the nature of the deeds that trigger insult or remorse may vary considerably across societies, and the means to counter them may range even wider."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Introduction: an evolutionary riddle, p. 11
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Scott_Atran
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Scott Atran
19 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Scott Atran →
Related Quotes
"Human cognition (re)creates the gods who sustain hope beyond sufficient reason and commitment beyond self interest. H…"
"Roughly, religion is a community's costly and hard-to-fake commitment to a counterfactual and counterintuitive world …"
"Religious practice is costly in terms of material sacrifice (at least one's prayer time), emotional expenditure (inci…"
"Religious beliefs are counterfactual insofar as they are anomalous (e.g., God is gendered but sexless; Saturn devours…"
"The more one accepts what is materially false to be really true, and the more one spends material resources in displa…"
"Cultures and religions do not exist apart from the individual minds that constitute them and the environments that co…"
"Each mountain ridge in this landscape has a distinct contour, with various peaks whose heights reflect evolutionary t…"
"Another ridge includes social interaction schema. Some of these schema may have aspects that go far back in evolution…"
"In the course of life, all such systems (i.e., the different evolutionary ridges) are somewhat functionally interdepe…"
"Religions are not adaptations and they have no evolutionary functions as such."