Some issues concerning applications of naturalistic paradigm to the study of religion

• Authors: Kinga Kowalczyk-Purol
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Viewing religion as a product of evolution already has yielded a new and interesting hypotheses, which could help to integrate entire heritage of scientific study of religion. Nonetheless, there are some objections toward this program. First, despite the fact that evolutionary theories of religion are inherently interdisciplinary, its integration with sociological, anthropological and historical studies should be improve in the future. Second, phenomenological descriptions (that is individual religious experiences) are neglected by Darwinians. This fact could negatively affects explanatory potential of this approach. Finally, opponents of analyzed paradigm state that evolutionary hypotheses have still low level of confirmation. It stems from a small number of conducted empirical investigations on evolutionary roots of religion. Nevertheless, application of Darwinian tools to the study of religion remains a very promising scientific venture.

Keywords

EN

universal Darwinism; cultural evolution; adaptation; byproduct; memetics; cognitive schema

• Publisher: Copernicus Center Press
• Journal: Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 54
• Pages: 39-77

Dates

published

2014-01-24

Contributors

author

Kinga Kowalczyk-Purol