How religion works : : towards a new cognitive science of religion / / Ilkka Pyysiäinen.

• VerfasserIn: Pyysiäinen, Ilkka,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden : : Brill,, [2001]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2001
• Language: English
• Series: Cognition & Culture Book Series ; 1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

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.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Chapter one Introduction: Cognitive Approach to Religion -- The Category of 'Religion' -- The Cognitive Approach -- Chapter two God and Transcendence -- 'God' as an Emic Concept -- Superhuman Beings, Religion and Science -- Intentional Agents -- Counter-Intuitiveness of Gods -- Summary -- Chapter three Religion and Culture -- Geertz and the Concept of 'Culture' -- Geertz and Symbolism -- Geertz on Religion as a Symbolic Cultural System -- Summary -- Chapter four Religion and the Social -- On the Sociological Background of Durkheim's Theory of Religion -- Religion and Society -- Religion as Symbolic of the Society - A Critique -- Religion and Society Reconsidered -- Summary -- Chapter five Religious Belief, Experience, and Ritual -- Ritual and Emotion -- Theories of ritual -- Ritual form and emotions -- What is Emotion? -- On the Neurophysiology of Emotion -- Religious Experience, "Mysticism" and Emotions -- Religious experience and "mysticism" -- Neurophysiology of religious experience -- Neurophysiological processes and religion -- Emotions, religious belief, and religious experience -- Summary -- Chapter six Religion, "Worldview," and Ethics -- Religion as "Worldview" -- An Outline of Ethics as a Field of Study -- Theories of ethics -- Naturalist criticism of philosophical ethics -- Towards naturalist ethics -- Religious Ethics -- Christian and Buddhist ethics -- Mind and society in interaction -- Differences in the sociocultural backgrounds of Buddhism and Christianity -- Summary -- Chapter seven Religion and Cognition: Towards a New Science of Religion -- Domain Specificity -- Cognitive Modules -- Intuitive Theories and Cognitive Domains -- Is Religion a Cognitive Domain? -- Violating the boundaries between domains.

Distinguishing between religion and other forms of counter-intuitiveness -- Empirical evidence of counter-intuitiveness as a characteristic of religion -- Summary -- References -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.