Cooperative Breeding instead of Cooperative Killing

Abstract

Foreword | In his outstanding target article on”The Ritual Origins of Humanity”, Matt Rossano presented empirical findings and theses from the forefront of interdisciplinary anthropological studies, ranging from biology to psychology and sociology. But I will argue that he has inherited a classical bias that is unfortunately still alive in evolutionary studies, namely, the implicit assumption that male-centred “cooperative killing” has been the driving force in human evolution, while female-centred cooperative upbringing of children is unconsciously regarded as a minor matter. In this commentary, I will argue that cooperative breeding has been a major factor in the evolution of human prosociality, group cohesion and finally ritual and religiosity.