The paper proposes that the four-component structure of political order consists of state, imagination, rule, and accountability whose mental origins are the social brain, theory of mind, the rational brain, and the e...The paper proposes that the four-component structure of political order consists of state, imagination, rule, and accountability whose mental origins are the social brain, theory of mind, the rational brain, and the empirical brain, respectively. The rational brain and the empirical brain are from the thinking brain. This paper posits that in the evolution of political order, the main function of political order is to pacify changed social structure derived from technological revolution. Therefore, the four technological revolutions (the Upper Paleolithic, Agricultural-Bronze, Iron, and Industrial Revolutions) produce the four changed social structures (linked bands, tribe, mega empire, and modern nation, respectively) whose internal conflicts are pacified by the four political revolutions (the imaginative, hierarchical, thinking, bottom-up political revolutions, respectively) to form the four politics (the imaginative egalitarianism, decentralized hierarchical tribalism, centralized top-down thinking, and multilateral bottom-up thinking politics, respectively). In the competitive West originated from Greece and Middle East, the rule of law is the rational rule of competition among competitors, and the accountability of election is the empirical accountability of competition among competitors. In the cooperative East originated from India and China, the rule of relation is the rational rule of cooperation among kin-friends, and the accountability of professional qualification is the empirical accountability of cooperation among kin-friends. For political order, the two viable politics are competitive liberal democracy based on liberty and cooperative well-off democracy (well-off socialism) based on wellbeing. The direction of political order is middle democracy between liberal democracy and well-off democracy based on the multilateral bottom-up thinking politics.展开更多
The paper proposes that the evolutionary origin of religions is based on theory of mind as the product of interdependent division of labor between the forest specialist group (women and small children) and the woodlan...The paper proposes that the evolutionary origin of religions is based on theory of mind as the product of interdependent division of labor between the forest specialist group (women and small children) and the woodland specialist group (men) in early hominins who lived in the mixed forest-woodland habitat. To complement each other’s work without interfering each other’s work, one specialist group had to recognize (imagine) that the other specialist group existed to think for themselves and to do different works. The result was theory of mind which is to recognize (imagine) that the others exist to think for themselves. (The forest-woodland groups became the hunter-gatherer groups for the Homo species in the savanna habitat.) Under existential pressure, hominins invented imaginary specialists as imaginary agents who existed to think for themselves and to do different works in imaginary division of labor to enhance survival chance. The result was religion with imaginary behaviors. Therefore, religion is defined as a set of beliefs and behaviors based on theory of mind that produces a shared imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure. This paper proposes that the religious evolution consists of the premodern imaginative religion for local society habitat starting from bipedalism, the modern rational imaginative religion for regional society habitat starting from the Axial Age, and the postmodern diverse rational imaginative religion for global society habitat starting from the Information Revolution. In conclusion, the religious brain is the imaginative brain, and the religious social behaviors are imaginary social behaviors. The religious evolution is the evolution of human imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure, such as the religious reinforcement of social bonds to enhance the survival chance of social group and the religious relief of stress and anxiety to enhance the survival chance of individuals.展开更多
文摘The paper proposes that the four-component structure of political order consists of state, imagination, rule, and accountability whose mental origins are the social brain, theory of mind, the rational brain, and the empirical brain, respectively. The rational brain and the empirical brain are from the thinking brain. This paper posits that in the evolution of political order, the main function of political order is to pacify changed social structure derived from technological revolution. Therefore, the four technological revolutions (the Upper Paleolithic, Agricultural-Bronze, Iron, and Industrial Revolutions) produce the four changed social structures (linked bands, tribe, mega empire, and modern nation, respectively) whose internal conflicts are pacified by the four political revolutions (the imaginative, hierarchical, thinking, bottom-up political revolutions, respectively) to form the four politics (the imaginative egalitarianism, decentralized hierarchical tribalism, centralized top-down thinking, and multilateral bottom-up thinking politics, respectively). In the competitive West originated from Greece and Middle East, the rule of law is the rational rule of competition among competitors, and the accountability of election is the empirical accountability of competition among competitors. In the cooperative East originated from India and China, the rule of relation is the rational rule of cooperation among kin-friends, and the accountability of professional qualification is the empirical accountability of cooperation among kin-friends. For political order, the two viable politics are competitive liberal democracy based on liberty and cooperative well-off democracy (well-off socialism) based on wellbeing. The direction of political order is middle democracy between liberal democracy and well-off democracy based on the multilateral bottom-up thinking politics.
文摘The paper proposes that the evolutionary origin of religions is based on theory of mind as the product of interdependent division of labor between the forest specialist group (women and small children) and the woodland specialist group (men) in early hominins who lived in the mixed forest-woodland habitat. To complement each other’s work without interfering each other’s work, one specialist group had to recognize (imagine) that the other specialist group existed to think for themselves and to do different works. The result was theory of mind which is to recognize (imagine) that the others exist to think for themselves. (The forest-woodland groups became the hunter-gatherer groups for the Homo species in the savanna habitat.) Under existential pressure, hominins invented imaginary specialists as imaginary agents who existed to think for themselves and to do different works in imaginary division of labor to enhance survival chance. The result was religion with imaginary behaviors. Therefore, religion is defined as a set of beliefs and behaviors based on theory of mind that produces a shared imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure. This paper proposes that the religious evolution consists of the premodern imaginative religion for local society habitat starting from bipedalism, the modern rational imaginative religion for regional society habitat starting from the Axial Age, and the postmodern diverse rational imaginative religion for global society habitat starting from the Information Revolution. In conclusion, the religious brain is the imaginative brain, and the religious social behaviors are imaginary social behaviors. The religious evolution is the evolution of human imagination to enhance survival chance under existential pressure, such as the religious reinforcement of social bonds to enhance the survival chance of social group and the religious relief of stress and anxiety to enhance the survival chance of individuals.
