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Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist
Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how
to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using
findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and
evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of
human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent,
naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book
gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious
feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes
from.
This text introduces students, scholars, and interested educated
readers to the issues of human memory broadly considered,
encompassing both individual memory, collective remembering by
societies, and the construction of history. The book is organized
around several major questions: How do memories construct our past?
How do we build shared collective memories? How does memory shape
history? This volume presents a special perspective, emphasizing
the role of memory processes in the construction of self-identity,
of shared cultural norms and concepts, and of historical awareness.
Although the results are fairly new and the techniques suitably
modern, the vision itself is of course related to the work of such
precursors as Frederic Bartlett and Aleksandr Luria, who in very
different ways represent the starting point of a serious psychology
of human culture.
Tradition is a central concept in the social sciences, but it is commonly treated as unproblematic. Dr. Boyer insists that social anthropology requires a theory of tradition, its constitution and transmission. He treats tradition "as a type of interaction which results in the repetition of certain communicative events," and therefore as a form of social action. Tradition as Truth and Communication deals particularly with oral communication and focuses on the privileged role of licensed speakers and the ritual contexts in which certain aspects of tradition are characteristically transmitted. Drawing on cognitive psychology, Dr. Boyer proposes a set of general hypotheses to be tested by ethnographic field research. He has opened up an important new field for investigation within social anthropology.
This text introduces students, scholars, and interested educated
readers to the issues of human memory broadly considered,
encompassing both individual memory, collective remembering by
societies, and the construction of history. The book is organized
around several major questions: How do memories construct our past?
How do we build shared collective memories? How does memory shape
history? This volume presents a special perspective, emphasizing
the role of memory processes in the construction of self-identity,
of shared cultural norms and concepts, and of historical awareness.
Although the results are fairly new and the techniques suitably
modern, the vision itself is of course related to the work of such
precursors as Frederic Bartlett and Aleksandr Luria, who in very
different ways represent the starting point of a serious psychology
of human culture.
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.
Tradition is a central concept in the social sciences, but it is
commonly treated as unproblematic. Dr Boyer insists that social
anthropology requires a theory of tradition, its constitution and
transmission. He treats tradition 'as a type of interaction which
results in the repetition which results in the repetition of
certain communicative events', and therefore as a form of social
action. Tradition as Truth and Communication deals particularly
with oral communication and focuses on the privileged role of
licensed speakers and the ritual contexts in which certain aspects
of tradition are characteristically transmitted. Drawing on
cognitive psychology, Dr Boyer proposes a set of general hypotheses
to be tested by ethnographic field research. He has opened up an
important new field for investigation within social anthropology.
A watershed book that masterfully integrates insights from
evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and more to
explore the development and workings of human societies “There is
no good reason why human societies should not be described and
explained with the same precision and success as the rest of
nature.” Thus argues evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer in
this uniquely innovative book. Integrating recent insights from
evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics, and other
fields, Boyer offers precise models of why humans engage in social
behaviors such as forming families, tribes, and nations, or
creating gender roles. In fascinating, thought-provoking passages,
he explores questions such as, Why is there conflict between
groups? Why do people believe low-value information such as rumors?
Why are there religions? What is social justice? What explains
morality? Boyer provides a new picture of cultural transmission
that draws on the pragmatics of human communication, the
constructive nature of memory in human brains, and human motivation
for group formation and cooperation.
Recent cognitive approaches to the study of religion have yielded
much understanding by focusing on common psychological processes
that all humans share. One leading theory, Harvey WhitehouseOs
modes of religiosity theory, demonstrates how two distinct modes of
organizing and transmitting religious traditions emerge from
different ways of activating universal memory systems. In Mind and
Religion, top scholars from biology to religious studies question,
test, evaluate and challenge WhitehouseOs sweeping thesis. The
result is an up-to-date snapshot of the cognitive science of
religion field for classes in psychology, anthropology, or history
of religion.
Recent cognitive approaches to the study of religion have yielded
much understanding by focusing on common psychological processes
that all humans share. One leading theory, Harvey WhitehouseOs
modes of religiosity theory, demonstrates how two distinct modes of
organizing and transmitting religious traditions emerge from
different ways of activating universal memory systems. In Mind and
Religion, top scholars from biology to religious studies question,
test, evaluate and challenge WhitehouseOs sweeping thesis. The
result is an up-to-date snapshot of the cognitive science of
religion field for classes in psychology, anthropology, or history
of religion.
Why do people have religious ideas? And why "those"religious ideas?
The main theme of Pascal Boyer's work is that important aspects of
religious representations are constrained by universal properties
of the human mind-brain. Experimental results from developmental
psychology, he says, can explain why certain religious
representations are more likely to be acquired, stored, and
transmitted by human minds. Considering these universal
constraints, Boyer proposes an exciting new answer to the question
of why similar religious representations are found in so many
different cultures. His work will be widely discussed by cultural
anthropologists, psychologists, and students of religion, history,
and philosophy.
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