Attraction of Religion
A New Evolutionary Psychology of Religion
«The Attraction of Religion daringly succeeds in presenting a scientific framework that will serve as a secure starting point and a useful reference for future, in-depth inquiries.»
Science, Religion & Culture
Religion is an evolutionary puzzle. It involves beliefs in counterfactual worlds and engagement in costly rituals. Yet religion is widespread across all human cultures and eras. This begs the question, why are so many people attracted to religion?
In The Attraction of Religion, essays by leading scholars in evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and religious studies demonstrate how religion may be related to evolutionary adaptations because religious commitments involve fitness-enhancing behaviours that promote reproduction, kinship, and social solidarity.
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Religion is an evolutionary puzzle. It involves beliefs in counterfactual worlds and engagement in costly rituals. Yet religion is widespread across all human cultures and eras. This begs the question, why are so many people attracted to religion?
In The Attraction of Religion, essays by leading scholars in evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and religious studies demonstrate how religion may be related to evolutionary adaptations because religious commitments involve fitness-enhancing behaviours that promote reproduction, kinship, and social solidarity. Could it be that religion is wide-spread, at least in the modern world, because it helps to facilitate cooperative breeding? International contributors explore the philosophical and theoretical arguments for and against the use of costly signalling, sexual selection, and related theories to explain religion, and empirical findings that support or disconfirm such claims. The first book-length treatment that focuses specifically on costly signalling, sexual selection, and related evolutionary theories to explain religion, The Attraction of Religion will be an important contribution to the field and will be of interest to researchers in the fields of evolutionary psychology, religion and science, the psychology of religion, and anthropology of religion.
In The Attraction of Religion, essays by leading scholars in evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and religious studies demonstrate how religion may be related to evolutionary adaptations because religious commitments involve fitness-enhancing behaviours that promote reproduction, kinship, and social solidarity. Could it be that religion is wide-spread, at least in the modern world, because it helps to facilitate cooperative breeding? International contributors explore the philosophical and theoretical arguments for and against the use of costly signalling, sexual selection, and related theories to explain religion, and empirical findings that support or disconfirm such claims. The first book-length treatment that focuses specifically on costly signalling, sexual selection, and related evolutionary theories to explain religion, The Attraction of Religion will be an important contribution to the field and will be of interest to researchers in the fields of evolutionary psychology, religion and science, the psychology of religion, and anthropology of religion.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Bloomsbury Academic
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- Sider
- 272
- ISBN
- 9781472534620
- Utgivelsesår
- 2015
- Format
- 23 x 16 cm
Anmeldelser
«The Attraction of Religion daringly succeeds in presenting a scientific framework that will serve as a secure starting point and a useful reference for future, in-depth inquiries.»
Science, Religion & Culture
«Slone and Van Slyke have put together a treasure-trove, a much needed compendium that is not only a valuable source book for some of the most cogent hypotheses for the biological evolution of religion, but also the first coherent attempt to empirically assess the legitimacy of each. The Attraction of Religion delivers on its promise, and part of its attraction to serious researchers is that it marks the beginning of serious inquiry into an important human trait, bespeaking the degree to which even something so delicate and culture-bound as religion is also susceptible to the long reach of natural selection. An admirable and noteworthy achievement!»
David Barash, Professor of Psychology, University of Washington, USA and author of 'Buddhist Biology
«The Attraction of Religion, edited by D. Jason Slone and James A. Van Slyke, offers an exciting set of intellectual perspectives on the origins and nature of religion - a human universal that seems deeply embedded in who we are. Humans across the globe - and across recorded history - have practiced various forms of religion. And the evolutionary perspective on the human mind is poised to shed light on questions of why. Why do people practice religion? Why do religious practices vary in so many ways from one another? What are core features that are shared across religious practices? How does religious practice betray details of our evolutionary roots? With a set of contributors who comprise some of the top voices on the topic of evolutionary psychology, such as Craig Palmer and Todd Shackelford, writing on topics such as the interface of sexual selection and religiosity, this volume is sure to generate new understanding regarding the nature of the church-going ape.»
Glenn Geher, Director of Evolutionary Studies, Chair and Professor of Psychology, State University o