The Pleasure of Believing
Toward a naturalistic explanation of religious conversions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12822964 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Fabrice Clément (0000-0002-6319-4362, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 69-89 |
| Publication date | 2003-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cognition and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1567-7095 • E-ISSN: 1568-5373 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/156853703321598581 |
| OpenAlex | W1971106971 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
From a cognitive point of view, the adhesion to religious beliefs, especially those involving adult subjects, are quite mysterious. Religious representations entail paradoxical claims that should imply skepticism or cautious doubts in any rational mind. Nevertheless, it is not rare that they prompt an act of total commitment from the converts. The aim of this paper is to propose a naturalist explanation of the conversion phenomenon. The argument relies on the postulated existence of an emotional signal selected by evolution to motivate the child to look for the underlying structure of the world by providing a strong positive feeling when a solution is found. By the use of different examples of historical conversions, the author shows how this emotional mechanism can be triggered in the presence of religious representations, causing in the subjects the feeling that they have discovered a good solution to problems they were confronted with
Argument (complex analysis · Cognition · Epistemology · Feeling · Mechanism (biology · Metaphysics · Naturalism · Philosophy of mind · Pleasure · Psychotherapist · Skepticism · Chemistry · Cultural Differences and Values · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Transformed Self
The varieties of religious experience
Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity
The theory theory
When prophecy fails
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
The past explains the present
Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, part II
The Nature of Rationality
The Fragmentation of Reason
Mapping the Mind
Augustine's Conversion
The Naturalness of Religious Ideas
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2010 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |