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Beliefs play a central role in our lives. They lie at the heart of
what makes us human, they shape the organization and functioning of
our minds, they define the boundaries of our culture, and they
guide our motivation and behavior. Given their central importance,
researchers across a number of disciplines have studied beliefs,
leading to results and literatures that do not always interact. The
Cognitive Science of Belief aims to integrate these disconnected
lines of research to start a broader dialogue on the nature, role,
and consequences of beliefs. It tackles timeless questions, as well
as applications of beliefs that speak to current social issues.
This multidisciplinary approach to beliefs will benefit graduate
students and researchers in cognitive science, psychology,
philosophy, political science, economics, and religious studies.
Beliefs play a central role in our lives. They lie at the heart of
what makes us human, they shape the organization and functioning of
our minds, they define the boundaries of our culture, and they
guide our motivation and behavior. Given their central importance,
researchers across a number of disciplines have studied beliefs,
leading to results and literatures that do not always interact. The
Cognitive Science of Belief aims to integrate these disconnected
lines of research to start a broader dialogue on the nature, role,
and consequences of beliefs. It tackles timeless questions, as well
as applications of beliefs that speak to current social issues.
This multidisciplinary approach to beliefs will benefit graduate
students and researchers in cognitive science, psychology,
philosophy, political science, economics, and religious studies.
Most Americans believe they possess an immaterial soul that will
survive the death of the body. In sharp contrast, the current
scientific consensus rejects the traditional soul, although this
conclusion is rarely discussed publicly. In this book, a cognitive
scientist breaks the taboo and explains why modern science leads to
this controversial conclusion. In doing so, the book reveals the
truly astonishing scope and power of scientific inquiry, drawing on
ideas from biology, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and the
physical sciences.
Much more than chronicling the demise of the traditional soul, the
book explores where soul beliefs come from, why they are so
widespread culturally and historically, how cognitive science
offers a naturalistic alternative to religious conceptions of mind,
and how postulating the existence of a soul amounts to making a
scientific claim.
Although the new scientific view of personhood departs radically
from traditional religious conceptions, the author shows that a
coherent, meaningful, and sensitive appreciation of what it means
to be human remains intact. He argues that we do not lose anything
by letting go of our soul beliefs and that we even have something
to gain.
Throughout, the book takes a passionate stand for science and
reason. It also offers a timely rejoinder to recent claims that
science supports the existence of the soul and the afterlife.
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