The Theological Significance of Michael Tomasello's Evolutionary Anthropology

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Breul
• Subject Area: Roman Catholic Theology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 409473436

Evolutionary Anthropology is a rapidly growing field of research which has been neglected or even disregarded by theology so far. The research project aims at a reconstruction and critical evaluation of the potentials and boundaries of one of the major strands in evolutionary anthropology, namely Michael Tomasello’s approach, from a perspective of theological anthropology. In a first step, it is necessary to thoroughly examine and reconstruct Tomasello’s approach in order to identify its anthropological impact and to introduce the main pillars of his theory to the theological research community. This reconstruction of Tomasello’s approach will be embedded in a methodological analysis of the relevance of evolutionary approaches for theological anthropology. Thereafter, two exemplary case studies in theological anthropology will be conducted, as they help to evaluate the scope and the limits of evolutionary anthropology. The case studies will analyse the mind-body problem and the capability of freedom. The working hypothesis of the research project consists in the assumption that mutual interpolations of the respective anthropologies are possible and fruitful. Theological anthropology could profit from considering the genesis of specific human capabilities as it might gain a deeper understanding of them without the necessity to embrace a reductive naturalism. Evolutionary anthropology, however, should take core insights of theological anthropology, especially regarding the conditions of the capability of freedom and the core capability to ask for the meaning of one’s existence, into consideration. Hence, an engagement with evolutionary anthropology may help to ensure the interdisciplinary entanglement of theological anthropology. At the same time, a critical examination of the boundaries and blind spots of evolutionary anthropology may demonstrate the interdisciplinary potentials of theological anthropology.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants