Asceticism in Human Evolution

Abstract This contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium “The Satisfactions of Asceticism” argues that asceticism plays a central role, both ontogenetically and phylogenetically, in human evolution, culture, and socialization. The article defines asceticism with respect not only to particularly strenuous physical exercises within religious practice but also to any form of deprivation that aims to subordinate the selfish, appetitive behavior of the individual to the interests of the group. A direct line is drawn from the earliest examples of religious asceticism during the Axial Age to the present craze of “raw dogging” on airplane flights. Moreover, what at first appears to be the peculiar behavior of the perfectionist few turns out, on closer inspection, to serve the goals of society in general. Perfectionists press the many to change their way of life by emulating the few, thereby priming the culture to move to a higher set of behavioral standards.