Evolution, Religion, and Cognitive Science: Critical and Constructive Essays - Hardcover

 
9780199688081: Evolution, Religion, and Cognitive Science: Critical and Constructive Essays
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0199688087 ISBN 13: 9780199688081
Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2014

Synopsis

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 Pyssiäinen, 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.

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About the Author


Fraser Watts is Fellow of Queens' College at the University of Cambridge,

Leon P. Turner is Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
OUP Oxford
Publication date
2014
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0199688087
ISBN 13 
9780199688081
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
264
Editor
Watts Fraser, Turner Léon P.