The Roots of Religion Exploring the Cognitive Science of Religion [Hardcover]

The cognitive science of religion is a new discipline that looks at the roots of religious belief in the cognitive architecture of the human mind. The Roots of Religion deals with the philosophical and theological implications of the cognitive science of religion which grounds religious belief in human cognitive structures: religious belief is natural, in a way that even scientific thought is not. Does this new discipline support religious belief, undermine it, or is it, despite many claims, perhaps eventually neutral? This subject is of immense importance, particularly given the rise of the new atheism. Philosophers and theologians from North America, UK and Australia, explore the alleged conflict between truth claims and examine the roots of religion in human nature. Is it less natural to be an atheist than to believe in God, or gods? On the other hand, if we can explain theism psychologically, have we explained it away. Can it still claim any truth? This book debates these and related issues.

1 Cognitive and Evolutionary Studies of Religion

Justin L. Barrett and Roger Trigg

2 Intuition, Agency Detection, and Social Coordination as Analytical and Explanatory Constructs in the Cognitive Science of Religion

Robert Audi

3 Whose Intuitions? Which Dualism?

Steven Horst

4 Explaining Religion at Different Levels: From Fundamentalism to Pluralism

Aku Visala

5 HADD, Determinism and Epicureanism: An Interdisciplinary Investigation

Robin Attfield

6 Understanding Person Talk: When is it Appropriate to Think in Terms of Persons?

Graham Wood

7 Knowledge and the Objection to Religious Belief from Cognitive Science

Kelly James Clark and Dani Rabinowitz&l³—