Entropy and the Idea of God(s)
A Philosophical Approach to Religion as a Complex Adaptive System
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3371664 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matthew Zaro Fisher (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 925 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel15080925 |
| OpenAlex | W4401210069 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 25 |
While a universal definition of religion eludes the field of religious studies, it certainty seems that people are becoming differently religious rather than a-religious, especially since the latter half of the twentieth century. To explain the enduring relevance of religion in human experience, this article expands on recent evolutionary and sociological research in the systems theory of religion and develops a philosophical approach to understanding religion as a complex adaptive system. Frameworks of meaning and beliefs communicated by religious systems emerge and adapt in relation to interpretive selection pressures communicated by individuals-in-community relative to entropy's role in one's contingent experience as a "teleodynamic self" in the arrow of time. Religious systems serve an entropy-reducing function in the minds of individuals, philosophically speaking, because their sign and symbol systems communicate an "anentropic" dimension to meaning that prevents uncertainty ad infinitum (e.g., maximum Shannon entropy) concerning matters of existential concern for phenomenological systems, i.e., persons. Religious systems will continue to evolve, and new religious movements will spontaneously emerge, as individuals find new ways to communicate their intuition of this anentropic dimension of meaning in relation to their experience of contingency in the arrow of time
Complex adaptive system · Epistemology · Sociology · Computer Science · Philosophy · Theology and Philosophy of Evil · Artificial Intelligence
Complexifying Religion
The Devil in the Details
Nicaea and its Legacy
The organization of the living
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
Information and Meaning in Evolutionary Processes
International Handbook of Practical Theology
Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity
Autopoiesis and Cognition
Critical systems theory
Asymptotics, Reduction and Emergence
Religion as a Complex and Dynamic System
Religion as communication
Imagining the future study of religion and spirituality
Religion in Human Evolution
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |