Cognitive Aspects of Religious Symbolism - Hardcover

Boyer, Pascal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052143288X ISBN 13: 9780521432887

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1993

Synopsis

How are religious ideas presented, acquired and transmitted? Confronted with religious practices, anthropologists have typically been content with sociological generalizations, informed by vague, intuitive models of cognitive processes. Yet the modern cognitive theories promise a fresh understanding of how religious ideas are learnt; and if the same cognitive processes can be shown to underlie all religious ideologies, then the comparative study of religions will be placed on a wholly new footing. The present book is a contribution to this ambitious programme. In closely focused essays, a group of anthropologists debate the particular nature of religious concepts and categories, and begin to specify the cognitive constraints on cultural acquisition and transmission.

About this title

Book Description:

How are religious ideas presented, acquired and transmitted? The present book is a contribution to this ambitious programme. In closely focused essays, a group of anthropologists debate the particular nature of religious concepts and categories, and begin to specify the cognitive constraints on cultural acquisition and transmission.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 052143288X
• ISBN 13: 9780521432887
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256