Thinking about Thinking: Cognitive Science, the Axial Age, and the role of Religion and Philosophy

Monarch v. Viceroy Pop Quiz Answers

Thanks to everyone who took the pop quiz in my last post! Here’s the answer:

The Monarch to the left lacks the black line of the Viceroy that runs parallel to the edge of the lower wing.

50% of those voting correctly identified the Monarch, and 83% correctly chose the Viceroy. Above you can see them side by side. It’s not the color difference. That can vary by age, light and other variables. Look for a black line running across the bottom of the lower wing, denoted by the yellow arrow. If you see the black line, it’s a Viceroy. If not, it’s a Monarch.

What does the term “viceroy” mean, precisely, outside the field of lepidoptera? According to the Wikipedia experts:“

A viceroy is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.”

How appropriate! The viceroys stay here all winter while the lofty monarchs migrate to Mexico. In their absence, the viceroys rule! The viceroys are a bit smaller than the monarchs and have a black line. They are both Müllerian mimics, as we discussed in the last post. Now we’re all experts!

Thinking about thinking.

I’ve started to listen to a new podcast, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis, with Dr. John Vervaeke. Dr. Vervaeke is a professor at the University of Toronto in the departments of psychology, cognitive science, and Buddhist psychology, and is director of the Cognitive Science program there.

Cognitive Science is the study of the human mind and brain, focusing on how the mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. It’s thinking about thinking.

There are many different tools that people use to make sense of the world we live in. Many of us were raised with religion as the framework within which we learned to make sense of the world and our place in it. In that sense, religion is a tool we use to navigate through life.

Most major religions developed in the Axial Age. The ‘Axial Age’ (500–300 BCE) refers to the period during which most of the main religious and spiritual traditions emerged in Eurasian societies.

It’s a controversial concept that has generated a good deal of discussion.

Here’s a particularly interesting idea:

[W]e propose a new characterization of the Axial Age based not on a cognitive change but on a behavioral one. We argue that the real change is the emergence of self-discipline and selflessness, which were new at the time and which today form the core of world religions. On this view, the reason why such figures as Buddha, the Stoics, Lao Tse and Confucius are still read today is that they proposed a new way of life in which morality and self-discipline are central.

What changed during the axial age: Cognitive styles or reward systems?, by Nicolas Baumard, Alexander Hyafil and Pascal Boyer, 2015 Sep 25 (link to abstract), emphasis added.

Here’s a link to the entire article: What changed during the axial age: Cognitive styles or reward systems? The quotes and two tables below are from this article.

There are many religions and philosophies out there today that people have adopted to make sense of the world in which we live and to deal with our mortality. None of them existed before the Axial age. Once we learned to write, and became able to preserve that writing, we gained an awareness of ourselves and our legacy. This helped us focus on the long term rather than the immediate concerns of food, protection and lodging.

[H]uman culture has gone through 3 transitions: from ape culture to mimetic culture (through the expansion of executive functions), from mimetic to mythic culture (through the emergence of linguistic symbols), and from mythic culture to theoretic culture (through the invention of writing).

It’s the movement from the Mythic (think Homer) to the Theoretic (think Greek philosophy) that gave us the tools to shape ourselves and our society. These tools have permitted us to develop and understand traits such as self-control and compassion.

Here is another chart that helps differentiate between harsh environment religions (in which the struggle for food and shelter is a significant problem), and affluent environment religions:

Religion and Philosophy are like shoes.

Religion and philosophy are tools to help us live our lives and make sense of our world. If the world is a harsh place, then too the religion must be able to accommodate that harshness. As the environment changes, so does religion.

Many of us were born into a particular religion. A religion or philosophy is like a pair of shoes that we wear to help us walk through times of good and bad. If the environment changes, you may need to reassess the religion or philosophy.

You can wear the same shoes your entire life and never feel a need to change. The same shoes may continue to work no matter where you walk. Or you may find that your religion or philosophy no longer works with the stress and strain of the modern world.

Some shoes are poorly made. You can tell at a glance they won’t last. Others shoes may be stylish, but fall apart in the rain.

The same shoes that fit you may not fit me. We may grow out of our shoes or we may travel into regions that require different footgear. Some folks may be completely fine going barefoot, at least for a time. Others may have a need for something more comfortable.

Personally, I want a shoe that will let me hike into difficult terrain and climb the peaks and navigate the valleys I meet. If you want to climb the mountains you best be geared up! But if you plan to spend your life on the beach, perhaps you can get away with flip-flops. Some people even spend their life barefoot, without philosophy or religion. It’s easy to do if you live on the beach.

For those of you who want to explore this further check out Massimo Pigliucci’s Substack, Figs in Winter. Here’s his most recent post: Should we go eclectic? This post discusses the pros and cons of adopting a particular philosophy.

I am not trying to convert anyone to Stoicism. What shoes fit me may not fit you. Nor am I trying to tell you to change your footwear to something else. If your church shoes still fit and still work for you that’s fine.

But what I do think is important is that everyone be free to wear whatever shoes they like, as long as they don’t stomp on others. And if you want to go barefoot, have at it!

Thanks so much for traveling along~!

Credit: Baumard N, Hyafil A, Boyer P. What changed during the axial age: Cognitive styles or reward systems? Commun Integr Biol. 2015 Sep 25;8(5):e1046657. doi: 10.1080/19420889.2015.1046657. Erratum in: doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.10.063. PMID: 27066164; PMCID: PMC4802742.