Cerebral Cortex and the need for Meaning

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Evolutionary Psychology by John Grohol, 3/19/97
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    • Evolution and Other Religions by James Brody, 6/21/97
      
      

I am a Newcomer to Evolutionary Psychology and have the further disadvantage of not being a Psychologist /Psychiatrist. I am however a medical psychotherapist, a former Muslim fundamentalist, and now-Thank God!??! - an agnostic. I have difficulty (using Complexity and Chaos theory as my informants) in not attributing a higher process order of functioning to the immense sophistication displayed by the Cerebral cortex than mere survival and its attendant sequelae. This is not just due to some residual "spiritual need" but more an extrapolation if you wish from the evidence of "civilizations'" extraneous H&G paraphrenalia. I refer paricularly to "Mankind's" incessant attempts to make meaning of existence, but also to the need for Art (in all its forms), Poetry, Wisdom and Music. I say "Mankind" because I presume Ethology is not yet developed enough to inform us of the equivalent amongst our mammalian cousins. It appears too sterile an exercise to explain away all these enterprises as variants of Social Attention Holding Potential or gradual emergence of the Hedonic Mode of functioning. Meaning making is of course an eminently malleable process and the metanarratives we are fond of elaborating, change shape with the times, tools, personalities, and epistemologies contemporaneous with their formations. Evolutionary theory and its applications may be yet another such offering albeit more elegant and utilizing science as its tool rather than just observation and contemplation as was the wont of its predecessors. My comment and query is this. It would appear, hypothetically of course that some other evolutionary force may be at play here (I am sure I have betrayed my ignorance by now). If this is indeed the case and someone out there is working on it already could they please let me know. I feel that Meaning making does not just improve Survival fitness though that would go some way to account for the results of various studies indicating lower morbidity generally (and mental health specifically) in those that have a healthy religious life. Leaving aside the God postulate what other evolutionary purpose does Meaning serve? Thank you for indulging me!

• Alcock's Belief Engine by bill, 7/5/98
• Humanity's Search for Meaning as Adaptation by Elizabeth Rose, 12/8/98
  • Can you supply reference material? by Tom Jurcak, 3/9/99