New Developments In The Cognitive Science Of Religion

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New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : Hans van Eyghen
Publisher : Springer
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2018-07-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783319902395

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New Developments in the Cognitive Science of Religion by Hans van Eyghen Pdf

It is widely thought that the cognitive science of religion (CSR) may have a bearing on the epistemic status of religious beliefs and on other topics in philosophy of religion. Epistemologists have used theories from CSR to argue both for and against the rationality of religious beliefs, or they have claimed that CSR is neutral vis-à-vis the epistemic status of religious belief. However, since CSR is a rapidly evolving discipline, a great deal of earlier research on the topic has become dated. Furthermore, most of the debate on the epistemic consequences of CSR has not taken into account insights from the philosophy of science, such as explanatory pluralism and explanatory levels. This volume overcomes these deficiencies. This volume brings together new philosophical reflection on CSR. It examines the influence of CSR theories on the epistemic status of religious beliefs; it discusses its impact on philosophy of religion; and it offers new insights for CSR. The book addresses the question of whether or not the plurality of theories in CSR makes epistemic conclusions about religious belief unwarranted. It also explores the impact of CSR on other topics in philosophy of religion like the cognitive consequences of sin and naturalism. Finally, the book investigates what the main theories in CSR aim to explain, and addresses the strengths and weaknesses of CSR.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : D. Jason Slone,William W. McCorkle Jr.
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2019-01-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781350033702

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The Cognitive Science of Religion by D. Jason Slone,William W. McCorkle Jr. Pdf

The Cognitive Science of Religion introduces students to key empirical studies conducted over the past 25 years in this new and rapidly expanding field. In these studies, cognitive scientists of religion have applied the theories, findings and research tools of the cognitive sciences to understanding religious thought, behaviour and social dynamics. Each chapter is written by a leading international scholar, and summarizes in non-technical language the original empirical study conducted by the scholar. No prior or statistical knowledge is presumed, and studies included range from the classic to the more recent and innovative cases. Students will learn about the theories that cognitive scientists have employed to explain recurrent features of religiosity across cultures and historical eras, how scholars have tested those theories, and what the results of those tests have revealed and suggest. Written to be accessible to undergraduates, this provides a much-needed survey of empirical studies in the cognitive science of religion.

A New Science of Religion

Author : Gregory W. Dawes,James Maclaurin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780415635851

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A New Science of Religion by Gregory W. Dawes,James Maclaurin Pdf

There are contrasting theories that deal with different aspects of human religiosity - some focus on religious beliefs, while others focus on religious actions, and still others on the origin of religious ideas. While these theories might share a similar focus, there is plenty of disagreement in the explanations they offer. This volume examines the diversity of new scientific theories of religion, by outlining the logical and causal relationships between these enterprises. Are they truly in competition, as their proponents sometimes suggest, or are they complementary and mutually illuminating accounts of religious belief and practice?

An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : Claire White
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 329 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2021-03-14
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781351010955

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An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion by Claire White Pdf

In recent decades, a new scientific approach to understand, explain, and predict many features of religion has emerged. The cognitive science of religion (CSR) has amassed research on the forces that shape the tendency for humans to be religious and on what forms belief takes. It suggests that religion, like language or music, naturally emerges in humans with tractable similarities. This new approach has profound implications for how we understand religion, including why it appears so easily, and why people are willing to fight—and die—for it. Yet it is not without its critics, and some fear that scholars are explaining the ineffable mystery of religion away, or showing that religion is natural proves or disproves the existence of God. An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion offers students and general readers an accessible introduction to the approach, providing an overview of key findings and the debates that shape it. The volume includes a glossary of key terms, and each chapter includes suggestions for further thought and further reading as well as chapter summaries highlighting key points. This book is an indispensable resource for introductory courses on religion and a much-needed option for advanced courses.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : James A. Van Slyke
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781409421245

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The Cognitive Science of Religion by James A. Van Slyke Pdf

The cognitive science of religion is a relatively new academic field in the study of the origins and causes of religious belief and behaviour. The focal point of empirical research is the role of basic human cognitive functions in the formation and transmission of religious beliefs. However, many theologians and religious scholars are concerned that this perspective will reduce and replace explanations based in religious traditions, beliefs, and values. This book attempts to bridge the reductionist divide between science and religion through examination and critique of different aspects of the cognitive science of religion and offers a conciliatory approach that investigates the multiple causal factors involved in the emergence of religion.

Culture and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : James Cresswell
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2017-10-30
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781315415192

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Culture and the Cognitive Science of Religion by James Cresswell Pdf

Culture and the Cognitive Science of Religion is the first book to bring together cultural psychology and the cognitive science of religion (CSR). Containing much-needed discussion of how good research should do more than simply follow methodological prescriptions, this thought-provoking and original book outlines the ways in which CSR can be used to study everyday religious belief without sacrificing psychological science. Cresswell’s pragmatist approach expands CSR in a radically new direction. The author shows how language and culture can be integrated within CSR in order to achieve an alternative ontogenetic and phylogenetic approach to cognition, and argues that a view of cognition that is not based on modularity, but on the dynamic connection between an organism and its milieu, can lead to a view of evolution that makes much more room for the constitutive role of culture in cognition. As a provocative attempt to persuade researchers to engage with religious communities more directly, the book should be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students, as well as psychologists interested in the cognitive science of religion, theological anthropology, religious studies and cultural anthropology.

Cognitive Psychology of Religion

Author : Kevin J. Eames
Publisher : Waveland Press
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2016-02-22
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781478633068

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Cognitive Psychology of Religion by Kevin J. Eames Pdf

Is religion all in our heads? Whether you believe that to be true or whether you believe that religion has a corresponding external reality (i.e., God), religion at least begins with our heads, namely the cognitive architecture that predisposes human beings to belief in the sacred supernatural. Cognitive Psychology of Religion explores how research in neuroscience, perception, cognition, child development, social cognition, and cognitive anthropology provides insight into the development of the cognitive faculties of belief that facilitate the transmission of religion. Eames has organized the text into seven chapters that follow a clear and straightforward progression from the different theories of the origin of religion into an exploration on how our minds perceive the environment, form truths, spread beliefs, and take part in various rituals and experiences. Cognitive Psychology of Religion is a concise introduction to the cognitive science of religion and serves as an excellent primary or supplemental text for traditional psychology of religion courses.

Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : Robert N. McCauley
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2017-09-07
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781350030336

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Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive Science of Religion by Robert N. McCauley Pdf

Robert N. McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson are considered the founders of the field of the cognitive science of religion. Since its inception over twenty years ago, the cognitive science of religion has raised questions about the philosophical foundations and implications of such a scientific approach. This volume from McCauley, including chapters co-authored by Lawson, is the first book-length project to focus on such questions, resulting in a compelling volume that addresses fundamental questions that any scholar of religion should ask. The essays collected in this volume are those that initially defined this scientific field for the study of religion. These essays deal with issues of methodology, reductionism, resistance to the scientific study of religion, and other criticisms that have been lodged against the cognitive science of religion. The new final chapter sees McCauley reflect on developments in this field since its founding. Tackling these debates head on and in one place for the first time, this volume belongs on the shelf of every researcher interested in this now established approach to the study of religion within a range of disciplines, including religious studies, philosophy, anthropology and the psychology of religion.

Current Approaches in the Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : Ilkka Pyysiainen,Veikko Anttonen
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2002-09-19
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0826457096

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Current Approaches in the Cognitive Science of Religion by Ilkka Pyysiainen,Veikko Anttonen Pdf

The cognitive science of religion is a new field that has emerged within Religious Studies in the past two decades. In this volume, the world's leading experts present an up-to-date introduction to problems, theories and recent findings in this branch of inquiry. The issues discussed focus on the cognitive sources of recurrent phenomena that can be subsumed in the category of 'religion' in cultures the world over. For instance, the contributors posit questions as to why religious concepts emerge in the first place and what is the role that memory plays in the cultural transmission of beliefs and practices pertaining to religion. In explaining these and many other issues, the authors draw on the study of primate cognition, linguistics, anthropology as well as developmental, cognitive and evolutionary psychology.The cognitive science of religion represents a dramatic change (a "cognitive turn") in the inherited ways of understanding religious phenomena. It will significantly alter the current views of religion within the fields of Religious Studies and Cultural Anthropology. Instead of questions centering on the existence of gods, spirits or ghosts, or the cultural diversity of myths, beliefs and rituals, this field of study focuses on the role that the human mind and its evolved cognitive machinery play in the construction of supernatural repertoires.The book is of interest to scholars in religious studies and comparative religion as well as in anthropology, psychology and cognitive science.

How Religion Works

Author : Ilkka Pyysiäinen
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2021-10-11
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9789004496217

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How Religion Works by Ilkka Pyysiäinen Pdf

Recent findings in cognitive science and evolutionary psychology provide important insights to the processes which make religious beliefs and behaviors such efficient attractors in and across various cultural settings. The specific salience of religious ideas is based on the fact that they are 'counter-intuitive': they contradict our intuitive expectations of how entities normally behave. Counter-intuitive ideas are only produced by a mind capable of crossing the boundaries that separate such ontological domains as persons, living things, and solid objects. The evolution of such a mind has only taken place in the human species. How certain kinds of counter-intuitive ideas are selected for a religious use is discussed from varying angles. Cognitive considerations are thus related to the traditions of comparative religion. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

Changing Minds

Author : István Czachesz,T. S. Biró
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Cognition and culture
ISBN : 9042925531

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Changing Minds by István Czachesz,T. S. Biró Pdf

This volume addresses the problem of change and continuity in religious traditions from the perspective of cognitive science. Relying on the rapidly growing body of scientific knowledge about the human mind, the authors examine cross-culturally recurrent religious phenomena and specific reli-gious traditions, in an attempt to explain why religions change dynamically whilst still exhibiting high degrees of continuity. The volume contributes to our understanding of how social and cultural phenomena emerge from mental processes taking place in the brains of many individuals.The cognitive turn in the humanities entails not only a new, biological-ly grounded view of human phenomena, but also novel questions and methods. Some of the chapters, written by philosophers and linguists, discuss what the study of religion can learn from other disciplines that have already undertaken the cognitive turn. Anthropologists and psychologists of religion build bridges from different areas within the cognitive sciences to very specific issues of religion; they thus pave the way for Biblical scholars and theologians who are embracing the new cognitive method.This volume is the result of the International Workshop on Religion and Cognition, co-organised by the Cultural Change programme and the Centre for Religion and Cognition at the University of Groningen in 2006.

The Roots of Religion

Author : Roger Trigg,Justin L. Barrett
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 242 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781317016939

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The Roots of Religion by Roger Trigg,Justin L. Barrett Pdf

The cognitive science of religion is a new discipline that looks at the roots of religious belief in the cognitive architecture of the human mind. The Roots of Religion deals with the philosophical and theological implications of the cognitive science of religion which grounds religious belief in human cognitive structures: religious belief is ’natural’, in a way that even scientific thought is not. Does this new discipline support religious belief, undermine it, or is it, despite many claims, perhaps eventually neutral? This subject is of immense importance, particularly given the rise of the ’new atheism’. Philosophers and theologians from North America, UK and Australia, explore the alleged conflict between truth claims and examine the roots of religion in human nature. Is it less ’natural’ to be an atheist than to believe in God, or gods? On the other hand, if we can explain theism psychologically, have we explained it away. Can it still claim any truth? This book debates these and related issues.

Minds and Gods

Author : Todd Tremlin
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2010-05-07
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780199739011

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Minds and Gods by Todd Tremlin Pdf

This provocative book explains the origins and persistence of religious ideas on the basis of common structures and functions of human thought. The first general introduction to the new "cognitive science of religion," Minds and Gods presents the major themes, theories, and thinkers involved in this revolutionary new approach to human religiosity. Arguing that we cannot understand what we think until we first understand how we think, the book pursues the evolutionary forces that molded the modern human mind and continue to shape our ideas and actions today. Todd Tremlin details many of the adapted features of the brain - illustrating their operation with examples of everyday human behavior - and shows how mental endowments inherited from our ancestral past lead people to naturally entertain religious ideas. Tremlin provides a clear and comprehensive account of the developing field of the cognitive science of religion. This accessible and engaging volume is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the religious mind.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

Author : James A. Van Slyke
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2016-03-23
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781317037934

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The Cognitive Science of Religion by James A. Van Slyke Pdf

The cognitive science of religion is a relatively new academic field in the study of the origins and causes of religious belief and behaviour. The focal point of empirical research is the role of basic human cognitive functions in the formation and transmission of religious beliefs. However, many theologians and religious scholars are concerned that this perspective will reduce and replace explanations based in religious traditions, beliefs, and values. This book attempts to bridge the reductionist divide between science and religion through examination and critique of different aspects of the cognitive science of religion and offers a conciliatory approach that investigates the multiple causal factors involved in the emergence of religion.

Revising Cognitive and Evolutionary Science of Religion

Author : Konrad Szocik,Hans Van Eyghen
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2021-01-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783030635169

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Revising Cognitive and Evolutionary Science of Religion by Konrad Szocik,Hans Van Eyghen Pdf

This unique and pioneering book critically appraises current work from both the cognitive science of religion and the evolutionary study of religion. It addresses the question: Why does the believer possess supernatural or religious beliefs in the combined context of his cognitive biases, their adaptive usefulness measured in terms of survival and reproduction, and the impact of social learning and cultural traits? The authors outlines a pluralistic approach to the study of religion that does not treat religion as an accidental by-product but an adaptation selected by natural selection. Chapters discuss the role of religious components for the evolution of cooperation and altruism, and explore the development of atheism and secular ideas, in cognitive and evolutionary terms. Topics such as the usefulness of religion, the transmission of religious beliefs, and a Darwinian approach to religion are among those addressed. Contrary to standard views, religious biases are regarded as shaped by cultural influences and not merely by natural dispositions. This monograph will particularly appeal to researchers who are looking for a scientific explanation of religion and religious beliefs but who do not stop at the level of narrow cognitive and evolutionary accounts. The work will also be of interest to students of philosophy, sociology, religious studies, theology, or anthropology who seek to explain such fascinating, complex, and unequivocal phenomena as religion and religious components.