Abstract
This paper presents contemporary cognitive approaches to the evolution of religious beliefs. Arguments are put forward that different types of beliefs, or ‘modes of religiosity’, occur as a result of a number of evolutionary factors (biological, cultural, socio-political etc). At the same time, religions across the world retain a significant level of common and shared elements, also explained in evolutionary terms.
Highlights
This paper presents contemporary cognitive approaches to the evolution of religious beliefs
The CSR proceeds from evidence that human minds develop in fundamentally similar ways the world over, even though cultural settings differ widely; it proposes that these recurrent features of our minds evolved under natural selection to deal with problems that don’t necessarily have anything to do with religion; it postulates, that these universal features of cognition can help to explain widespread patterns of religious thinking and behaviour
1 Problems of defining ‘religion’ can be set aside here – what matters is that we find an explanation for specific traits; whether or not those traits happen to be classified as ‘religious’ at certain times and places is if little importance for explanatory purposes
Summary
This paper presents contemporary cognitive approaches to the evolution of religious beliefs. The CSR proceeds from evidence that human minds develop in fundamentally similar ways the world over, even though cultural settings differ widely; it proposes that these recurrent features of our minds evolved under natural selection to deal with problems that don’t necessarily have anything to do with religion; it postulates, that these universal features of cognition can help to explain widespread patterns of religious thinking and behaviour.
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