Gods

Cognition, Culture, and Ecology

Bibliographic Data

ID23628601
AuthorsB G Purzycki (0000-0002-9595-7360, Aarhus University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Pages67-89
Publication date2022-04-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueOxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190693350.013.4
OpenAlexW2953933002
ISBN9780190693350
LanguageEN
References cited63

All populations on the planet have some belief in spiritual agents. From the perspective of the cognitive sciences of religion, gods are cultural representations (i.e., shared, socially transmitted data) that are made possible, informed, and constrained by noncultural cognitive systems. In keeping with this view, this chapter first assesses the relationship between statistically universal aspects of gods and these aspects’ corollary cognitive systems. It then addresses how environmental inputs also contribute to our conceptions of deities and points to ways in which the cognitive science of religion (CSR) can contribute to a more ecologically minded approach to understanding religious systems.

Belief system · Biology · Cognition · Cognitive science · Cognitive systems · Corollary · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethnology · Perspective (graphical) · Religious belief · Sociology · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Ecology · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology

Tools

Open DOILibgen