Sociobiology and ideas-become-real: Case study and assessment

One characteristic which appears in many human societies is the propensity of individuals to treat ideas and concepts as, in some sense, real, with an existence of their own. This paper suggests possible biological bases to this tendency. First, there may be survival value since hypostatizing could assist social order; second, this propensity would seem to be a result of man's social hunting past; third, neurophysiological underpinnings include the basal ganglia, limbic system and neocortex; fourth, ontogeny of this behavior indicates the importance of culture and experience. Although the hypothesis presented appears to be reasonable, there remain imposing problems if this hypothesis is to be tested adequately.