
Evolution, Religion, and Cognitive Science
Critical and Constructive Essays
Oxford University Press
Published on 20. March 2014
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-19-968808-1 (ISBN)
Description
The cognitive science of religion is an inherently heterogeneous subject, incorporating theory and data from anthropology, psychology, sociology, evolutionary biology, and philosophy of mind amongst other subjects. One increasingly influential area of research in this field is concerned specifically with exploring the relationship between the evolution of the human mind, the evolution of culture in general, and the origins and subsequent development of religion. This research has exerted a strong influence on many areas of religious studies over the last twenty years, but, for some, the so-called 'evolutionary cognitive science of religion' remains a deeply problematic enterprise. This book's primary aim is to engage critically and constructively with this complex and diverse body of research from a wide range of perspectives. To these ends, the book brings together authors from a variety of relevant disciplines, in the thorough exploration of many of the key debates in the field. These include, for example: can certain aspects of religion be considered adaptive, or are they evolutionary by-products? Is the evolutionary cognitive science of religion compatible with theism? Is the evolutionary cognitive approach compatible with other, more traditional approaches to the study of religion? To what extent is religion shaped by cultural evolutionary processes? Is the evolutionary account of the mind that underpins the evolutionary cognitive approach the best or only available account? Written in accessible language, with an introductory chapter by Ilkka Pyssiaeinen, a leading scholar in the field, this book is a valuable resource for specialists, undergraduate and graduate students, and newcomers to the evolutionary cognitive science of religion.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
564 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-968808-1 (9780199688081)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Fraser Watts | Léon P. Turner
Evolution, Religion, and Cognitive Science
Critical and Constructive Essays
E-Book
03/2014
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€77.49
Available for download
Persons
Editor
Fellow of Queens' CollegeFellow of Queens' College, University of Cambridge
Senior Research AssociateSenior Research Associate, University of Cambridge
Content
1. Introduction: Pluralism and Complexity in the Evolutionary Cognitive Science of Religion ; 2. The Cognitive Science of Religion ; 3. Biologically Evolutionary Explanations of Religious Belief ; 4. The Evolution of Divine and Human Minds: Evolutionary Psychology, the Cognitive Study of Religion and Theism. ; 5. Extending Evolutionary Accounts of Religion beyond the Mind: Religions as Adaptive Systems ; 6. Skilful Engagement and the "Effort after Value": An Axiological Theory of the Origins of Religion ; 7. Religion and the Emergence of Differentiated Cognition ; 8. From Empathy to Embodied Faith? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Evolution of Religion ; 9. Neither Friends nor Enemies: The Complex Relationship Between Cognitive and Humanistic Accounts of Religious Belief ; 10. The Cognitive Science of Religion from an Anthropological Perspective: Nature and History Reconciled? ; 11. Religion: the Dynamics of Cultural Adaptations ; 12. Artificial Intelligence Models of Religious Evolution ; 13. Concluding Reflections