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How might we transform a folk category - in this case religion -
into a analytical category suitable for cross-cultural research? In
this volume, the author addresses that question. He critically
explores various approaches to the problem of conceptualizing
religion, particularly with respect to certain disciplinary
interests of anthropologists. He argues that the concept of family
resemblances, as that concept has been refined and extended in
prototype theory in the contemporary cognitive sciences, is the
most plausible analytical strategy for resolving the central
problem of the book. In the solution proposed, religion is
conceptualized as an affair of "more or less" rather than a matter
of "yes or no," and no sharp line is drawn between religion and
non-religion.
This volume consists of 12 essays published by the author between
the years 1997-2007, a thirteenth paper read at a conference in
2006, and a long introduction prepared specifically for the
collection. All of the essays deal with epistemological issues
attendant on conceptualizing and defining religion, understanding
what is likely to be involved in studying and discussing beliefs,
and attempting to explain religion and religions by drawing on the
contemporary cognitive and evolutionary sciences. The problem of
how best to understand and represent the cultural sensitivities of
others is addressed by considering the works of three predecessors,
Edward Burnett Tylor, Lucien Levy-Bruhl, and A. Irving Hallowell.
This book describes aspects of the concept of the supernatural from
the intellectual history of Euro-American cultures. These samplings
shed light on issues in the study of religions and religion rather
than attempting to provide either a lineally coherent or exhaustive
account of a somewhat fraught and complicated notion. Observations
include uses of the term among the ancient Greeks and medieval
Christian theologians and 19th- and 20th-century social scientists.
This book highlights more recent academics who draw on the
cognitive and evolutionary sciences in attempting to make sense of
recurrent features of the representations and meta-representations
of different cultures. This includes such counter-intuitive notions
as "the mysterious" among the Wayuu of Columbia and Venezuela and
"vampires" in Europe and North America. These observations are
concluded in a final essay - "Toward a Realistic and Relevant
Science of Religion" - which presents considered opinions on how we
might draw on the cognitive and evolutionary sciences to establish
the foundations for a genuinely scientific study of religions and
religion. Benson Saler sadly passed away shortly after writing this
book. An appreciation of his work, written by Armin W. Geertz, is
included in this volume.
This book describes aspects of the concept of the supernatural from
the intellectual history of Euro-American cultures. These samplings
shed light on issues in the study of religions and religion rather
than attempting to provide either a lineally coherent or exhaustive
account of a somewhat fraught and complicated notion. Observations
include uses of the term among the ancient Greeks and medieval
Christian theologians and 19th- and 20th-century social scientists.
This book highlights more recent academics who draw on the
cognitive and evolutionary sciences in attempting to make sense of
recurrent features of the representations and meta-representations
of different cultures. This includes such counter-intuitive notions
as "the mysterious" among the Wayuu of Columbia and Venezuela and
"vampires" in Europe and North America. These observations are
concluded in a final essay - "Toward a Realistic and Relevant
Science of Religion" - which presents considered opinions on how we
might draw on the cognitive and evolutionary sciences to establish
the foundations for a genuinely scientific study of religions and
religion. Benson Saler sadly passed away shortly after writing this
book. An appreciation of his work, written by Armin W. Geertz, is
included in this volume.
In the summer of 1947 something mysterious crashed in the New
Mexican desert near the town of Roswell. This book tells the story
of the Roswell incident and examines how the belief in UFOs has
become so popular with Americans that one-quarter truly believe
aliens have visited Earth. The authors also delve into UFO stories
to examine Americans' faith in technology, distrust of the
government, and belief in religion.
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