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	thexphial 2007-02-04 07:46 am UTC (link)
	You forgot my favourite link! Before religion, we were savages!!!!! (Reply to this)(Thread)

	tangentialone 2007-02-04 09:03 am UTC (link)
	I heard about a study someone did that suggested that religion rises from a society, not the opposite. Like, it comes from the feelings people have from being part of a group, and they try to find a focus for those feelings. is explaining it crappily because it's a vague memory from Sociology 101 (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2007-02-04 10:42 am UTC (link)
	I'd have thought that'd be glaringly obvious if you look at it from an unprejudiced historical perspective, but then I'm an atheist on odd days and agnostic on even ones.... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dragonfangirl 2007-02-04 12:51 pm UTC (link)
	That... really kind of depends on how you define 'society.' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tangentialone 2007-02-04 10:12 pm UTC (link)
	It could have been "community". :O (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	luthe 2007-02-04 11:52 pm UTC (link)
	twitches urge to define 'community' rising will to live falling Can't you tell I'm a Cities major? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tangentialone 2007-02-05 01:38 am UTC (link)
	It needs defining beyond "a bunch of people living together with a common set of rules"? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dragonfangirl
2007-02-05 03:06 am UTC (link)

Sadly, it does. For example, these "rules" you talk about. Do they have to be explicit rules (e.g, a written code of laws) semi-explicit (an oral code of laws, enforced by an individual or set of individuals delegated that power) semi-implicit (an oral code of laws, enforced not by designated individuals but by social pressure or by whichever individual is closest at hand when the rule is broken,) or implicit (a code of rules understood and enforced by social pressure, but never specifically defined?)

As you go down that list, you could argue that all of these apply to human communities, or societies, at various levels of developments; but they apply to some animal groups, too.

"First, let's define our terms" arguments can stretch on ad infinitum without ever even beginning the debate. Quod est demonstratum.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tangentialone 2007-02-05 03:14 am UTC (link)
	Oh, I see what you're saying. I don't know what definition was being used in this case, though; we didn't go into it in depth. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	lexin 2007-02-04 01:31 pm UTC (link)
	I think that might have been Emile Durkheim, the one that's mentioned later in the thread. That brings back memories, it's been years since I read Durkheim. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tangentialone 2007-02-04 10:10 pm UTC (link)
	That sounds right, actually. :O (Reply to this)(Parent)

	exdee 2007-02-04 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	well, religion certainly reflects society...like how hunter-gatherer bands have multiple gods who don't interfere for the most part and state-level societies have big father figure deities who must be obeyed. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dragonfangirl 2007-02-05 12:25 am UTC (link)
	And all human groups fit into predetermined categories according to size and lifestyle with no individual variation! That's just like human society. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	exdee 2007-02-05 03:44 am UTC (link)
	And taking ANTH 001 means I'm an expert. self-flagellates (Reply to this)(Parent)

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