How Religion Works : Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion /
Pyysiäinen, Ilkka
How Religion Works : Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion / Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion Ilkka Pyysiäinen. - 1 online resource. - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495 Cognition & Culture Book Series ; 1 . - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495. Cognition & Culture Book Series ; 1. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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.
9789004496217 9789004123199
10.1163/9789004496217 DOI
Cognitive science.
Psychology, Religious.
Religion and Psychology.
BL53
200
How Religion Works : Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion / Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion Ilkka Pyysiäinen. - 1 online resource. - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495 Cognition & Culture Book Series ; 1 . - Brill Book Archive Part 1, ISBN: 9789004472495. Cognition & Culture Book Series ; 1. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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.
9789004496217 9789004123199
10.1163/9789004496217 DOI
Cognitive science.
Psychology, Religious.
Religion and Psychology.
BL53
200