The Ritual Animal
A Response to Reviews
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.23748Keywords:
Evolution, cognition and history, group identity, Prehistoric archaeology, ritual, modes of religiosityAbstract
This is a response to six reviews of The Ritual Animal (Whitehouse, 2021). The reviews covered a wide range of topics, from evolutionary theory (e.g., Bryson; Shilton and Jablonka), to group psychology (e.g., Putra) and development (e.g., Umbres), and the evidence from archaeology and deep history on the role of ritual in the evolution of socio-political complexity (e.g., Watkins). Some of the reviewers spanned all these topics in various ways (e.g., Sterelny). I am grateful for the high quality of engagement and the many generous remarks. Although I also disagree with some of the arguments advanced in the reviews, I argue that they have collectively opened up a variety of important questions worthy of further research.
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