In gods we trust : the evolutionary landscape of religion. / Scott Atran.

By: Atran, ScottContributor(s): Scott AtranMaterial type: TextTextPublisher number: : Zafaa Books & Distributors | : 313/56F,49A, Anand Nagar, Inderlok, Delhi.Publication details: , Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2002Description: xvi, 348 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmISBN: 9780195178036Subject(s): Genetic psychology | Religion | psychology of religion | GodsdienstDDC classification: 200.19 ATR
Contents:
Introduction: An evolutionary riddle pt. 1: Evolutionary sources. The mindless agent: Evolutionary adaptations and by-products. God's creation: Evolutionary origins of the supernatural pt. 2: Absurd commitments. Counterintuitive worlds: The mostly mundane nature of religious belief. The sense of sacrifice: Culture, communication, and commitment pt. 3: Ritual passions. Ritual and revelation: The emotional mind. Waves of passion: The neuropsychology of religion pt. 4: Mindblind theories. Culture without mind: Sociobiology and group selection. The trouble with memes: inference versus imitation in cultural creation.
Summary: "How do we explain the cultural hold of religion throughout history? Why are supernatural concepts culturally universal? What do biology, psychology, anthropology, and cognitive neuroscience have to tell us about the religious differences and similarities among different cultural groups? How is it that religious explanations of natural phenomena have had a greater hold on our collective imagination that most political, economic, and scientific accounts?" "In this interdisciplinary book, Scott Atran addresses these questions and more as he attempts to map the evolutionary landscape of religion. He argues that current explanations for religion do not sufficiently explain society's commitments to a logically absurd world of supernatural causes and beings, questioning why evolution did not select against such curiously costly beliefs and behaviors as making gigantic pyramids to house the dead, blowing oneself up for the pleasures of paradise, sacrificing one's children as a measure of religious sincerity, or setting aside large chunks of time to mumble incoherent words repititiously. Observing the limitations of most functional explanations for the cultural power of religion, he proposes that religion is less an adaptation to a specific function (or collective need) than a natural basin of possibilities to which human lives spontaneously converge. If naturally selected structures of cognition, emotion, and organization channel our thoughts and behaviors into cultural paths that include some kind of religious belief or commitment, he argues that secular ideologies attempting to replace religion will always be at a disadvantage in terms of cultural survival."-
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Introduction: An evolutionary riddle
pt. 1: Evolutionary sources. The mindless agent: Evolutionary adaptations and by-products. God's creation: Evolutionary origins of the supernatural
pt. 2: Absurd commitments. Counterintuitive worlds: The mostly mundane nature of religious belief. The sense of sacrifice: Culture, communication, and commitment
pt. 3: Ritual passions. Ritual and revelation: The emotional mind. Waves of passion: The neuropsychology of religion
pt. 4: Mindblind theories. Culture without mind: Sociobiology and group selection. The trouble with memes: inference versus imitation in cultural creation.

"How do we explain the cultural hold of religion throughout history? Why are supernatural concepts culturally universal? What do biology, psychology, anthropology, and cognitive neuroscience have to tell us about the religious differences and similarities among different cultural groups? How is it that religious explanations of natural phenomena have had a greater hold on our collective imagination that most political, economic, and scientific accounts?" "In this interdisciplinary book, Scott Atran addresses these questions and more as he attempts to map the evolutionary landscape of religion. He argues that current explanations for religion do not sufficiently explain society's commitments to a logically absurd world of supernatural causes and beings, questioning why evolution did not select against such curiously costly beliefs and behaviors as making gigantic pyramids to house the dead, blowing oneself up for the pleasures of paradise, sacrificing one's children as a measure of religious sincerity, or setting aside large chunks of time to mumble incoherent words repititiously. Observing the limitations of most functional explanations for the cultural power of religion, he proposes that religion is less an adaptation to a specific function (or collective need) than a natural basin of possibilities to which human lives spontaneously converge. If naturally selected structures of cognition, emotion, and organization channel our thoughts and behaviors into cultural paths that include some kind of religious belief or commitment, he argues that secular ideologies attempting to replace religion will always be at a disadvantage in terms of cultural survival."-

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