Matthew J.M. Coomber, Re-Reading The Prophets Through Corporate Globalization: A Cultural-evolutionary Approach To Economic Injustice In The Hebrew Bible

2017 ◽  
pp. 630-634
Author(s):  
Peter Altmann
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Corporate Globalization ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Economic Injustice

The Morally Dubious Passages of the Hebrew Bible: An Examination of Some Proposed Solutions

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eryl W. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Reader Response ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
To Come ◽  
Ethical Critique

This article offers a critique of some of the strategies deployed by biblical scholars, past and present, who have attempted to come to terms with the ethically problematic passages of the Hebrew Bible. Among the strategies examined are: the evolutionary approach; the cultural relativists’ approach; the canon-within-a-canon approach; the holistic approach; the paradigmatic approach; and the reader-response approach. It is argued that the reader-response approach provides the most satisfactory strategy for dealing with the unsavoury aspects of Scripture and that biblical scholars must be prepared to engage in an ethical critique of the Hebrew Bible. In order to provide some focus for the discussion, each strategy is examined in relation to one of the most notorious parts of Scripture, namely, the account of Israel’s conquest of Canaan as recorded in Josh. 6-11.

scholarly journals Cultural Evolutionary Theory and the Significance of the Biology-Culture Analogy

2020 ◽  
pp. 004839312097155
Author(s):  
Shaun Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Theoretical Biology ◽  
Social Ontology ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

Throughout the literature on Cultural Evolutionary Theory (CET) attention is drawn to the existence and significance of an analogy between biological phenomena and socio-cultural phenomena (the “biology-culture analogy”). Mesoudi (2017) seems to argue that it is the accuracy of the analogy, and the magnitude of accurate instances of this analogy at work, which provides warrant for an evolutionary approach to the study of socio-cultural phenomena, and, thus, for CET. An implication of this is that if there is evidence to suggest that the analogy is not accurate, or that there aren’t many cases where it is accurate, this would constitute evidence to reject an evolutionary approach to the study of socio-cultural phenomena. As such, opponents of CET raise objections highlighting the weakness of the biology-culture analogy. These objections, in turn, have standard replies in the literature that serve to reinforce the realism of the biology-culture analogy. Curiously, this situation would appear to support a position in the philosophy of social science called “Ontology Matters” (Lauer 2019). It is the view that social ontology can contribute to the empirical success of the social sciences (among which I include CET) by providing an accurate account of what there is in the domain of the social world which can be used to generate better explanations and/or predictions of social phenomena. If ontology matters, in this sense, perhaps this can help to clarify and resolve the dispute regarding the realism of the biology-culture analogy. In turn, perhaps this can help us determine what warrant there is for CET. However, I think this situation is indicative of severe confusion and misunderstanding as to the significance of the biology-culture analogy. This confusion is caused by inattention to two things. First, the useful distinction between it’s methodological, epistemological, and ontological significance. Second, the abstract (ontologically minimalist) nature of Darwinian evolution by natural selection. By drawing attention to these two things, I hope to take the sting out of, and deflate the significance of, disputes regarding the accuracy of the analogy, for both proponents and opponents of CET, as well as to bring into contact a classical dispute in the philosophy of social science with some relevant aspects of theoretical biology.

Caught in the Crossfire? Economic Injustice and Prophetic Motivation in Eighth-Century Judah

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 396-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J.M. Coomber
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
The Social ◽  
Socio Economic Variables ◽  
Perpetrators And Victims ◽  
Agrarian Societies ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Economic Injustice

Prophetic complaints against landownership abuse that are attributed to eighth-century Judah pose an interpretive problem: their contextual ambiguity. Passages like as Isa. 5.8-10 decry land seizures but lack key socio-economic variables: motivations and the identities of perpetrators and victims. Faced with scarce archaeological and biblical evidence pertaining to landownership in the eighth century, several scholars have turned to the social sciences for clues. Marvin Chaney and D.N. Premnath have found interpretive value in cultural-evolutionary theory. Cultural-evolutionary theorists, like Gerhard Lenski and Timothy Earle, find that recurring patterns tend to emerge as agrarian societies experience rapid economic development and increased trade, including an abandonment of subsistence strategies, land consolidation, and a hoarding of the benefits amongst elites. While Chaney and Premnath have successfully used this model to explore economic abuses attributed to eighth-century Judah, when the region was absorbed into the Assyrian trade nexus, the effects of these recurring societal patterns on religious institutions have yet to be explored by biblical scholars. Religious practices and norms that support outmoded economic strategies tend to be overturned during these transitional periods to accommodate new economic goals. While some religious leaders are forced to choose between either honouring long-held traditions or capitulating to a new economic environment, others find that their place in society is rendered obsolete. Through considering these cultural-evolutionary patterns alongside Hezekiah’s religious reforms, this paper explores the possibility that prophetic authors who condemned the displacement of farmers may have also been protesting their own displacement in an evolving Judean society.

scholarly journals Climate, aggression, and violence (CLASH): a cultural-evolutionary approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 113-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria I Rinderu ◽  
Brad J Bushman ◽  
Paul AM Van Lange
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

scholarly journals Mechanistic Modeling for the Masses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Adam Turner ◽  
Paul E. Smaldino
Keyword(s):  
Mechanistic Modeling ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Mechanistic Models ◽  
Institutional Level ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
The Masses

The generalizability crisis is compounded, or even partially caused, by a lack of specificity in psychological theories. Expanding the use of mechanistic models among psychologists is therefore important, but faces numerous hurdles. A cultural evolutionary approach can help guide and evaluate interventions to improve modeling efforts in psychology, such as developing standards and implementing them at the institutional level.

Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cherry Picking ◽  
Dichotomous Thinking

Abstract The argument against innatism at the heart of Cognitive Gadgets is provocative but premature, and is vitiated by dichotomous thinking, interpretive double standards, and evidence cherry-picking. I illustrate my criticism by addressing the heritability of imitation and mindreading, the relevance of twin studies, and the meaning of cross-cultural differences in theory of mind development. Reaching an integrative understanding of genetic inheritance, plasticity, and learning is a formidable task that demands a more nuanced evolutionary approach.

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