Biological and Cultural Evolution and Their Interactions:
Rethinking the Darwinian and Durkheimian Legacy
in the Context of the Study of Religion,
University of Aarhus, June 26-30 2012.
9:15-9:20 Opening of the conference Anders Klostergaard Petersen
9:20-10:05 Keynote lecture by Joseph Bulbulia, “Ritual, Identity, and Coordination: Surprising Results From the Field”
10:05-10:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Anders Klostergaard Petersen
10:30-10:50 Refreshments
10:50-11:20 Claire White and Daniel Fessler, “Are afterlife beliefs cognitive parasites? Exploring the roles of evolved psychological mechanisms and cultural environments in the experience of human grief.”
11:20-11:40 Discussion and questions
11:40-12:10 Andrew Keitt, “Historicizing the Cognitive Study of Religion: Medieval and Early Modern Superstition as Theological Incorrectness.”
12:10-12:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Marianne Schleicher
Joint Lunch break 12:30-14:00
14:00-14:40 Keynote lecture by Alexandra Maryanski, “Emile Durkheim and the Secret of the Religious Totem: An Evolutionary Story.”
14:40-15:10 Discussion and questions
15:10-15:40 Jørn Bjerre, “Emile Durkheim on Religion and Education as Forces of Evolution of the Mind.”
15:40-16:00 Discussion and questions
Chair: Cameron Warner
Short coffee and tea break 16:00-16:30
15:30-16:00 Quentin Atkinson, “Population Structure and Cultural Geography of a Folktale in Europe.”
16:00-16:30 Discussion and questions
16:30-17:00 Ryan McKay, “’Shared Delusions’: The Evolution of Costly Social Traditions.”
17:00-17:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Dimitris Xygalatas
Dinner on your own
20:00 Keynote lecture by Robert N. Bellah, “Religion in Human Evolution.”
9:00-9:45 Keynote lecture by Doron Mendels, “Deus Duplex to Deus Silens.”
9:45-10:15 Discussion and questions
Chair: Anders Klostergaard Petersen
10:15-10:40 Refreshments
10:40-11:25 Keynote lecture by Eva Jablonka, “Cultural Transformations: An Evo-Devo Approach.”
11:2 5-12:10 Discussion and questions
Chair: Martin Riexinger
Joint Lunch break 12:10-13:15
Afternoon on your own, unless you want to attend a most interesting public PhD-defense scheduled from 13:15-16:15 with a subsequent reception:
Kristoffer Laigaard Nielbo, Spontaneous and hierarchical segmentation of non-functional events.
Assessment Committee:
Professor, PhD Pascal Boyer
Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
Professor, PhD Don Braxton
Department of Religious Studies, Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA, USA
Professor, Dr. Phil. Armin W. Geertz (Chair)
Department of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Denmark
Alternatively:
1) You may visit the Old City
2) You may visit Moesgaard Museum
3) You may simply want to relax
18:30-19:00 Aperitif before dining at the Restaurant at Nørregade 38, 2. to the left. Ring the doorbell with the name “Utoft-Nielsen”.
19:00- Joint dinner at Klassisk Fisk, Nørregade 38.
Subsequent coffee, beer, wine at Løve’s at your own expense.
9:30-10:00 Sabela Fondevila, “Metaphors on Counterintuitive Religious Ideas.”
10:00-10:30 Discussion and questions.
Chair: Marie Vejrup Nielsen
10:30-10:50 Refreshments
10:50-11:20 Jakob Wamberg, “The Origin of Art: A Biocultural Approach.”
10:50-12:20: Discussion and questions
Chair: Marie Vejrup Nielsen
Lunch break 12:20-14:00
14:00-14:30 Andreas Lieberoth, “More Mental Parasites? – Game Engagement as Parallel to Religion.”
14:30-15:00 Discussion and questions
15:00-15:30 Michiel van Elk, “Extending Peripersonal Space to Religious and Profane Objects.”
15:30-16:00 Discussion and questions
Chair: Armin Geertz
Short coffee and tea break 16:00-16:30
16:30-17:10 Keynote lecture by Russel Gray, “Cultural phylogenetics and the evolution of religion”
17:10-17:35 Discussion and questions
17:35-18:05 Ronald Fischer, “Gene-environment interactions as possible causes of value and religious orientations between societies.”
18:05-18:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Jesper Østergaard
(There will be a bus transport from the University to Aros)
9:15-10:00 Keynote lecture by Jonathan Turner, “The Prospects and Limitations of Importing Evolutionary Theory from Biology to Social Scientific Analysis.”
10:00-10:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Uffe Schjødt
10:30-10:50 Refreshments
10:50-11:20 Davide Vecchi, “A New Metaphor for the Study of Culture?”
11:20-11:40 Discussion and questions
11:40-12:10 Konrad Talmont-Kaminski, “Wilson’s Empty Cathedral: Prosociality and Secularisation.”
12:10-12:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Uffe Schjødt
Joint Lunch break 12:30-14:00
14:00-14:45 Keynote lecture by Pascal Boyer, "Naturalness of Social Institutions - on the Biology of Cultural Norms."
14:45-15:10 Discussion and Questions
15:10-15:40 Ines Adornetti and Francesco Ferretti, “Why We Need Coevolution to Explain Cultural Beliefs.”
15:40-16:00 Discussion and questions
Chair: Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Short coffee and tea break 16:00-16:30
16:30-17:10 Keynote lecture by Bernhard Lang, “The Planter, the Intellectual, and the Individual.”
17:10-17:30 Discussion and question
17:30-18:10 Don Wiebe and Luther Martin, “The Scientific Study of Religion: Two Case Studies.”
18:10-18:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Hans Jørgen Lundager
9:30-10:00 Robert Rowthorn, “Religion, Fertility and Genes: A Dual Inheritance Model.”
10:00-10:30 Discussion and questions
Chair: Joseph Bulbulia
Refreshments 10:30-10:50
10:50-11:20 Rick Goldberg, “Funerals, Ancestral Spirits and Traditions: Religion and the Origin of Cooperation.”
11:20-11:50 Discussion and questions
Chair: Joseph Bulbulia
11:50-12:10 Conclusion of the conference Armin W. Geertz
