Those of you who believe that paleolithic man existed as per evolution?

Those of you who believe that paleolithic man existed as per evolution.... Doing topical research, it seems that no one agrees when fire happened for man (sometime between 150,000 years ago and 2 million) and no one agrees when religion happened for man (sometime between 200,000 years ago and 2 million, too)... as you can tell, they both share similar possible ages. Of course, in science some prefer to look at the most definitive and proving evidence as the "start date" and some see patterns in older digs that "suggest" but do not prove fire/religion earlier on. Hence, the large gap in scientific opinion re: when the homo species began keeping fire and/or performing religious rituals.So, what came first?

Religion or fire? What makes you think that? Why?

I don't want any, 'God always existed' answers, please; I want answers from a historical, sociological, anthropological, scientific or, at the very least, philosophic point of view. Use citations if/when necessary. Asked by GeminiWench 46 months ago Similar questions: paleolithic man existed evolution Science > Social Science.

Similar questions: paleolithic man existed evolution.

Fire Fire is a natural phenomenon. It was around long before Homo Sapiens or even the proto hominids evolved. The earliest hominids would have known that it could provide warmth and that animals "cooked" by natural fires were easier to eat.It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to figure out that it could be picked up and carried into a cave.

Making fire on their own would have taken a lot longer, of course. But it probably happened early on when some bright lad discovered that you could bang two stones together and get sparks that set the grass on file. Religion couldn't arise until the hominids developed the capability for abstract thought.

Nobody really knows when that happened. The earliest forms of religion were simply hominids trying to explain the world around them by reference to unknown but imagined causes. You can see a lightning bolt but, if you don't know the science behind it, it's easy to ascribe it to an invisible oogly boogly up in the sky.

Everybody could see the sun. Moon and stars move but they had no idea why they moved or even what they were. Again, it was easy to dream up invisible beings running the show.

They probably had a swell time sitting around the fire dreaming up variations on the theme. Sources: It ain't rocket science..

Animism almost certainly resulted from observing fire in natural phenomena - tough for it not to. I remember stooging around the North Island of New Zealand in a little Cessna that I was learning to fly, and when you could see three volcanoes in a straight line and another one way, way over there, plus the results of some very recent lava flows, and steam coming out of the ground in various places, I couldn't help but be struck by the fact that if you lived in such an active landscape that hurtled about all by itself, gave off lakes of fire, etc. , then you'd almost certainly have to invent legends to explain why. And those legends would be indistinguishable from animist religions - i.e.

Multiple gods, living on earth and in heaven both, and with their whims requiring serious attention in case they decided to blow their top again. (The legend about the four volcanoes - I'm not going to get it right, but it goes roughly that all four of them were in the same place, and two of the males fought over the same female and the winner booted him across the landscape so that he became what's now known as Mount Egmont). I guess one of the points I'm playing with is that the research question might have been better directed to 'when did man first discover how to create fire?

' because some people in certain parts of the world have, in effect, grown up with it and incorporated it into their religious understanding. And I want to quote Arthur C Clarke's comment that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' and broaden the definition of 'technology' somewhat..

Fire Not all fire is man-made. Fire occurs all the time as the result of natural events; e.g. , lightning storm over a forest. Every year, there are hundreds of fires started this way in the US alone.

Religion is either man-made or God-made on behalf of man. The earth existed for a long time before man came onto the scene.(By the way, this would allow for both evolutionists and creationists). Therefore, fire predates religion.

Sources: Logic .

Religion is what people think about God. Religion doesn't require God's personal involvement or presence. God's involvement with man, began at a time and at a place to And the last thing God wanted was another religion.

God just wanted people to love m and to choose to follow and obey m because of a relationship of love and trust. People however often need something more concrete and more measurable and more enforceable that a simple personal relationship with the God of the Universe. So the simplicity of relationship was replaced by the complexity of religion.

Now for the answer to the question. I think the most logical sequence would be fire before religion. Things like religion and philosophy occur when people have calm, peaceful moments with time to relax and think.

Prior to the intentional usage of fire, I suspect that those times were almost nonexistent. With fire bring light into the night, an greater sense of security, better food, warmth and a reason to congregate, the stage was set for the introduction of religion.

Religion before fire The only way to answer your question which came first religion or the invention of fire I would have to say religion. The reasons being man had to be able to think before he could invent fire. What did he think about.

FFrst and formost is food and water. Biological needs have to be satisfied. All food can be eaten raw and anthropologists generally agree that man ate raw foods many years before he figured out how to make fire.

Once fire was invented it will never be known when man decided meat tasted better cooked then raw. Once basic needs are taken care of there is time to think philosophical thoughts, when this happened is unknown. Recent studies of the brain have shown that the brain may be hard wired for religion.

MRI scans have shown specific brain activity in specialized areas of the brain when religious questions are thought about. So from the time our ansestors developed the present day brain the ability to think about where did I come from was already there. Man having the abilitiy to wonder about his surroundings and could not explain most of them like thunder and lightning, the moon ,sun and stars and volcanos thought it must be something much more powerful then myself that causes these things.

What could they be. More powerfull and awe inspiring things then ones self leads to thinking of these things a gods. Thus the Moon god, sun god thunder gods were created to explain what man did not understand.It is still happining today.

We have not yet figured out how the universe was created, thus something more powerful then us must have done it, the one and all powerful creator most of us still call GOD. If we figure it all out there may be no need for your brains to have hard wiring for religion and evolve out of it ,then again maybe the big mystery will never be figured ou and some form of religion will exist in man just like the very beginning but in a more sophisticated manner..

I have a BA in social science already. " "Is social Darwinism a science?" "Social science. Name the famous Rajputs dynasty?

" "Why is the hypothesis of evolution still discussed today as even being possible as science has debunked its possibility" "where can I find a t shirt that says "evolution of man" and has a drawing that shows all the stages of man's evolution?" "will you give me the jsc question pape of social science? " "I need homework help for science and social studies.

I would like to do counseling & social service.

Social science. Name the famous Rajputs dynasty?

Why is the hypothesis of evolution still discussed today as even being possible as science has debunked its possibility.

I need homework help for science and social studies.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.