Genesis of religion in the light of anthropology and cognitive psychology. Pascal Boyer’s thesis Cover Image

Powstanie religii w świetle antropologii i psychologii kognitywnej. Koncepcja Pascala Boyera
Genesis of religion in the light of anthropology and cognitive psychology. Pascal Boyer’s thesis

Author(s): Julian Jeliński
Subject(s): Anthropology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Cognitive Psychology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Papieskiego Jana Pawła II w Krakowie
Keywords: anthropology; cognitive psychology; explaining religion; nature of religious beliefs; origins of beliefs; Boyer P.;

Summary/Abstract: The diversity of religious beliefs still surprises even scholars most familiar with these phenomena. What is most surprising is the sheer number of practices that reflect relations between deities and men – ranging from„devotion”, „cooperation”, to trying to „trick” deities. There have been many theories explaining the cause of these relations and the diversity of religious beliefs including the simplest, that these relations are true and reflect an ontological order.Leaving the question regarding the existence of supernatural beings aside, we’re still left with a very interesting issue of human beliefs. Why do we have such different beliefs? Why are we so attached to them? Do they have anything in common? What were the origins of religious beliefs? Did they changed through time?Pascal Boyer, French anthropologist studying the human mind and the process of learning among other issues tries to answer these, and other questions. He bases his answers on scientific researches of other scholars – anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, cognitive psychologists and linguists. Boyer employs researches from such different scientific fields to find a new and very interesting way to try to reach the origins of religious beliefs, to reconstruct the process of forming beliefs concerning the metaphysical/non-physical world. He also tries to explain the nature of relations between men and deities. As a result of his efforts he created a theory explaining beliefs and religious behaviors that refers only to the mechanisms of human brain, and this theory is the subject of this article.The diversity of religious beliefs still surprises even scholars most familiar with these phenomena. What is most surprising is the sheer number of practices that reflect relations between deities and men – ranging from „devotion”, „cooperation”, to trying to „trick” deities. There have been many theories explaining the cause of these relations and the diversity of religious beliefs including the simplest, that these relations are true and reflect an ontological order. Leaving the question regarding the existence of supernatural beings aside, we’re still left with a very interesting issue of human beliefs. Why do we have such different beliefs? Why are we so attached to them? Do they have anything in common? What were the origins of religious beliefs? Did they change through time? Pascal Boyer, French anthropologist studying the human mind and the process of learning among other issues tries to answer these, and other questions. He bases his answers on scientific researches of other scholars – anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, cognitive psychologists and linguists. Boyer employs researches from such different scientific fields to find a new and very interesting way to try to reach the origins of religious beliefs, to reconstruct the process of forming beliefs concerning the metaphysical/non-physical world. He also tries to explain the nature of relations between men and deities. As a result of his efforts he created a theory explaining beliefs and religious behaviors that refers only to the mechanisms of human brain, and this theory is the subject of this article.

  • Issue Year: 2012
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 123-140
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Polish