Discussion questions for March 1st

We'll discuss some of these questions on March 1.
Pick a few topics that interest you.....

Discussion questions - moral behaviors:

• Is morality 'wired' into the human genome?
• Do some animals (especially primates) also have moral behaviors?
• Do modern humans have both moral instincts and moral reasoning ability?

Discussion questions - religious behaviors:

• Is religion fundamentally a social bond (religio) or a belief system (credo) ?
• Is belief or faith in the supernatural a necessary part of religion?
• Why do religions impose 'costly' behaviors?
• For a society, what is the role of fear in religion? what is the role of faith?
• For an individual, what is the role of fear? what is the role of faith?
• Why are sacred symbols always part of religion?
• From your reading so far, what do you think: Is there an instinct for religion?
• How might this instinct reveal itself in your own life?

Discussion questions - social behaviors:

1. Social organization -- equality and hierarchy:

• How do ape societies organize themselves?
• How do human hunter-gatherer societies organize themselves?
• How did early human settlements organize themselves?

2. Were primitive human tribes as aggressive and warlike as the anthropologists tell us?

Discussion questions - genetics:

• Could natural selection really work at the group level?
• Does the human genome carry genes for a 'universal moral grammar'?