The Co-Evolution of Religion and Humans

The Co-Evolution of Religion with Humans
Professor Robin Dunbar, University of Oxford
Recorded Talk held Tuesday 4 March, at Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution, Queen Square, Bath

Religion is one of the key features that sets humans apart from all other animals. In this engaging and wide-ranging talk, Professor Robin Dunbar explores why religion evolved, what cognitive capacities support it, and how it came to play a central role in human social life. He discusses how religion helped early humans manage increasingly large communities and raises the intriguing question of whether the absence of religion may have contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals.

Professor Robin Dunbar MA PhD DSc(Hon) FRAI FBA is Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is internationally known for his work on the evolution of human sociality and for proposing "Dunbar's Number," the cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships.

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