Claire White’s introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion is a valuable research and teaching tool. The uninitiated will truly benefit from the meticulously and clearly formulated expositions of this recent field of research on religion. Although clearly written with students in mind, the volume presents a great opportunity for scholars from other fields to familiarize themselves with the CSR as it has so far been established. A few possible additions and new research avenues are sketched out.
{"title":"Cognitive Science of Religion? In the Future Tense?","authors":"J. Jensen","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.21081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.21081","url":null,"abstract":"Claire White’s introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion is a valuable research and teaching tool. The uninitiated will truly benefit from the meticulously and clearly formulated expositions of this recent field of research on religion. Although clearly written with students in mind, the volume presents a great opportunity for scholars from other fields to familiarize themselves with the CSR as it has so far been established. A few possible additions and new research avenues are sketched out.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46625395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article provides a brief overview of Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion for the benefit of readers who have not had access to the book but are interested in following the critical discussion raised in this issue
{"title":"Brief Overview of Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion","authors":"A. Geertz","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.21590","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.21590","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides a brief overview of Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion for the benefit of readers who have not had access to the book but are interested in following the critical discussion raised in this issue","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46320557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this review, we discuss three vision impairments in the cognitive science of religious beliefs. We first assess the CSR’s improvements upon previous generations’ “mindblindness.” We also address “contextblindness,” the CSR’s relative lack of focus on the extant environment’s role in the formation and retention of religious beliefs. Finally, we address the problem of the CSR’s “ecoblindness,” that is, ignoring how beliefs are aligned with the distribution of resources.
{"title":"Some Vision Impairments in the Cognitive Science of Religion","authors":"B. Purzycki, Theiss Bendixen","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.20621","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20621","url":null,"abstract":"In this review, we discuss three vision impairments in the cognitive science of religious beliefs. We first assess the CSR’s improvements upon previous generations’ “mindblindness.” We also address “contextblindness,” the CSR’s relative lack of focus on the extant environment’s role in the formation and retention of religious beliefs. Finally, we address the problem of the CSR’s “ecoblindness,” that is, ignoring how beliefs are aligned with the distribution of resources.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49382109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this response, I identify and address five recurring issues raised in the commentaries to my recently published book, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture. These issues are: (1) Conceptualizing and studying religion, (2) the dialogue between method and theory, (3) the theological implications of the CSR, (4) history and culture, and finally, I end with (5) the future of religion and the CSR. I conclude that while further developments are inevitable in a subdiscipline as young as the CSR, we have made tremendous progress already in revitalizing the study of religion towards a more scientifically grounded perspective.
{"title":"Five Issues in the Debate","authors":"Claire White","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.21517","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.21517","url":null,"abstract":"In this response, I identify and address five recurring issues raised in the commentaries to my recently published book, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture. These issues are: (1) Conceptualizing and studying religion, (2) the dialogue between method and theory, (3) the theological implications of the CSR, (4) history and culture, and finally, I end with (5) the future of religion and the CSR. I conclude that while further developments are inevitable in a subdiscipline as young as the CSR, we have made tremendous progress already in revitalizing the study of religion towards a more scientifically grounded perspective.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49284605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
White’s book will serve to set the agenda for the cognitive science of religion. One crucial aspect of that agenda is the relationship between this kind of scientific research and theistic commitment. White has been eager to show the two are wholly compatible. However, any serious scientific study of religion is necessarily going to be highly disruptive, making the management of the relationship between science and religion a particularly difficult issue in that question. We show why this is the case and discuss two examples where White’s stated views are not well-justified. The first of these is the naturalist commitment of scientific research, which should be understood as the rejection of supernatural claims based upon a long history of their failure to explain observed phenomena, rather than as the limitation of scientific methods that White sees it as. The second is the issue of secularization, where we have extensive evidence for its rapid progress in developed societies and where the human tendency to supernatural beliefs and practices must be considered in the context of particular environments, despite White’s view that secularization theory has been found wanting.
{"title":"Science Is Disruptive, Science of Religion Particularly So","authors":"K. Talmont-kaminski, A. Atkinson","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.20812","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20812","url":null,"abstract":"White’s book will serve to set the agenda for the cognitive science of religion. One crucial aspect of that agenda is the relationship between this kind of scientific research and theistic commitment. White has been eager to show the two are wholly compatible. However, any serious scientific study of religion is necessarily going to be highly disruptive, making the management of the relationship between science and religion a particularly difficult issue in that question. We show why this is the case and discuss two examples where White’s stated views are not well-justified. The first of these is the naturalist commitment of scientific research, which should be understood as the rejection of supernatural claims based upon a long history of their failure to explain observed phenomena, rather than as the limitation of scientific methods that White sees it as. The second is the issue of secularization, where we have extensive evidence for its rapid progress in developed societies and where the human tendency to supernatural beliefs and practices must be considered in the context of particular environments, despite White’s view that secularization theory has been found wanting.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44878012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In chapter 5 of her text, Claire White discusses what the CSR has discovered regarding how people develop beliefs about the nature of the world and how it works. Cognitive science recognizes several mechanisms that influence beliefs, both religious and nonreligious. We review some of the literature on the cognitive origin of beliefs and apply the principles identified by cognitive science to CSR beliefs about religion. What do CSR researchers believe about religion and religious experiences, and what do they believe about the CSR itself ? Variables found by the CSR to influence religious beliefs are the same factors that influence all beliefs, including beliefs CSR researchers hold about the research process in which they are engaged. We propose Watson’s Ideological Surround Model (ISM) as a way of handling perceived incompatibilities between beliefs about religion and religious experience held by scientific researchers and those held by religious individuals.
{"title":"What Does CSR Believe about Religion and CSR?","authors":"Peter C. Hill, K. Seybold","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.20691","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20691","url":null,"abstract":"In chapter 5 of her text, Claire White discusses what the CSR has discovered regarding how people develop beliefs about the nature of the world and how it works. Cognitive science recognizes several mechanisms that influence beliefs, both religious and nonreligious. We review some of the literature on the cognitive origin of beliefs and apply the principles identified by cognitive science to CSR beliefs about religion. What do CSR researchers believe about religion and religious experiences, and what do they believe about the CSR itself ? Variables found by the CSR to influence religious beliefs are the same factors that influence all beliefs, including beliefs CSR researchers hold about the research process in which they are engaged. We propose Watson’s Ideological Surround Model (ISM) as a way of handling perceived incompatibilities between beliefs about religion and religious experience held by scientific researchers and those held by religious individuals.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45835624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion","authors":"A. Geertz","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.21589","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.21589","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46746865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this commentary on Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture (London: Routledge, 2021), I contrast the circuitous way in which I (and probably a number of others) initially came to teach cognitive science of religion (CSR) at the undergraduate university level with the more direct (and knowledgeable) way in which White came to do so. I then briefly discuss her comprehensive and coherent presentation of the CSR, noting, however, several issues with which I have problems (fractionation, an ahistorical “presentist” bias, and whether or not an “agnostic” view of religious teachings should remain the norm in the modern university curricula). Nevertheless, White’s Introduction is a most welcome and long-overdue contribution to the academic study of religion, the 150-year trajectory of which has been characterized by an anti-scientific history.
{"title":"Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion","authors":"L. Martin","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.20459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20459","url":null,"abstract":"In this commentary on Claire White’s An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture (London: Routledge, 2021), I contrast the circuitous way in which I (and probably a number of others) initially came to teach cognitive science of religion (CSR) at the undergraduate university level with the more direct (and knowledgeable) way in which White came to do so. I then briefly discuss her comprehensive and coherent presentation of the CSR, noting, however, several issues with which I have problems (fractionation, an ahistorical “presentist” bias, and whether or not an “agnostic” view of religious teachings should remain the norm in the modern university curricula). Nevertheless, White’s Introduction is a most welcome and long-overdue contribution to the academic study of religion, the 150-year trajectory of which has been characterized by an anti-scientific history.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49244421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
White’s recent book An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion provides a state-of-the-art review of the field, geared toward students and readers interested in learning more about the cognitive underpinnings of religion. This commentary focuses on the missing cultural lens in the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) in general, as evidenced by White’s summary of relevant theories and methods. I reflect on the grounding of the field in a specific version of evolutionary psychology which tends to downplay the role of culture for human behavior. The concept of functional equivalence from the cultural psychology toolkit may help researchers think through the Tinbergian questions within each cultural context. I then provide a basic bibliometric study of the authors cited within the book. Similar to the larger field of psychology, there is a distinct cultural bias in the contributors to the field. This bias is probably even more detrimental to this subject area because researchers are located mainly within one religious (Christian) tradition. It is important to overcome imposed etic perspectives and more carefully question assumptions, theories, and methods to evaluate whether a Christian interpretation is cast onto religious phenomena more generally. Finally, I provide two scientific and one moral reason why the CSR has much to gain from embracing cultural dynamics in its theorizing and scientific practice.
怀特最近出版的《宗教认知科学导论》(An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion)一书对这一领域进行了最新的回顾，面向有兴趣了解更多宗教认知基础的学生和读者。怀特对相关理论和方法的总结证明，这篇评论主要关注宗教认知科学(CSR)中缺失的文化镜头。我在进化心理学的一个特定版本中反思了这个领域的基础，它倾向于淡化文化对人类行为的作用。文化心理学工具包中的功能对等概念可以帮助研究人员在每种文化背景下思考丁伯格问题。然后，我对书中引用的作者进行了基本的文献计量学研究。与更大的心理学领域类似，这个领域的贡献者也有明显的文化偏见。这种偏见可能对这个学科领域更加有害，因为研究人员主要位于一个宗教(基督教)传统中。重要的是要克服强加的逻辑观点，更仔细地质疑假设、理论和方法，以评估基督教的解释是否被更普遍地投射到宗教现象上。最后，我提供了两个科学和一个道德的理由，为什么企业社会责任在其理论和科学实践中拥抱文化动态会受益匪浅。
{"title":"Missing Cultural Lens in the Cognitive Science of Religion","authors":"R. Fischer","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.21235","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.21235","url":null,"abstract":"White’s recent book An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion provides a state-of-the-art review of the field, geared toward students and readers interested in learning more about the cognitive underpinnings of religion. This commentary focuses on the missing cultural lens in the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) in general, as evidenced by White’s summary of relevant theories and methods. I reflect on the grounding of the field in a specific version of evolutionary psychology which tends to downplay the role of culture for human behavior. The concept of functional equivalence from the cultural psychology toolkit may help researchers think through the Tinbergian questions within each cultural context. I then provide a basic bibliometric study of the authors cited within the book. Similar to the larger field of psychology, there is a distinct cultural bias in the contributors to the field. This bias is probably even more detrimental to this subject area because researchers are located mainly within one religious (Christian) tradition. It is important to overcome imposed etic perspectives and more carefully question assumptions, theories, and methods to evaluate whether a Christian interpretation is cast onto religious phenomena more generally. Finally, I provide two scientific and one moral reason why the CSR has much to gain from embracing cultural dynamics in its theorizing and scientific practice.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48267041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this commentary on An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion by Claire White, I reflect on how the lack of clarification of a key concept, i.e., cognition, leads to a distorted image of the field. This is because different strands of research can now be represented in a cognitivist context. I also ask to what extent this field is still concerned with research on cognitive mechanisms and constraints and whether the cognitivist paradigm truly represents most of the field. I argue that other theoretical frameworks, such as predictive coding theory, cultural evolution, and complex adaptive systems are recently of importance in the CSR and should be rendered in similar detail as the “standard model” of the CSR framework. I further suggest that some shortcomings in the explicit communication of conceptual definitions may be to blame for theoretical misunderstandings and a feeling of a biased image of the discipline.
在克莱尔·怀特（Claire White）对《宗教认知科学导论》（An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion）的评论中，我反思了缺乏对一个关键概念（即认知）的澄清是如何导致该领域的形象失真的。这是因为不同的研究线索现在可以在认知主义的背景下表现出来。我还想知道，这个领域在多大程度上仍然关注认知机制和约束的研究，以及认知主义范式是否真正代表了这个领域的大部分。我认为，其他理论框架，如预测编码理论、文化进化和复杂自适应系统，最近在企业社会责任中具有重要意义，应该像企业社会责任框架的“标准模型”一样详细地呈现。我进一步认为，概念定义的明确交流中的一些缺陷可能是理论误解和学科形象偏见的原因。
{"title":"How Cognitive Is the Cognitive Science of Religion?","authors":"Eva Kundtová Klocová","doi":"10.1558/jcsr.20919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20919","url":null,"abstract":"In this commentary on An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion by Claire White, I reflect on how the lack of clarification of a key concept, i.e., cognition, leads to a distorted image of the field. This is because different strands of research can now be represented in a cognitivist context. I also ask to what extent this field is still concerned with research on cognitive mechanisms and constraints and whether the cognitivist paradigm truly represents most of the field. I argue that other theoretical frameworks, such as predictive coding theory, cultural evolution, and complex adaptive systems are recently of importance in the CSR and should be rendered in similar detail as the “standard model” of the CSR framework. I further suggest that some shortcomings in the explicit communication of conceptual definitions may be to blame for theoretical misunderstandings and a feeling of a biased image of the discipline.","PeriodicalId":29718,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48275222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：