Date of Graduation
12-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Philosophy (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Philosophy
Advisor
Eric Funkhouser
Committee Member
Thomas Senor
Second Committee Member
Edward Minar
Keywords
Philosophy, religion and theology, Psychology, Cognitive science of religion, Evolutionary psychology, Philosophy of religion, Psychology, Religious belief
Abstract
Religious belief is a byproduct of evolutionarily designed cognitive mechanisms. The ubiquity of religious belief and experience across human cultures is explained by our common human psychology; our domain-specific cognitive mechanisms give rise, collectively, to the phenomenon of byproduct religious belief/experience. In this thesis, I will examine what I call religion-generating cognitive mechanisms, and I will argue that byproduct raw god-beliefs are developed by cultures into refined god-beliefs. These refined god-beliefs are co-opted by evolutionary processes and are cultural adaptations. My conception of “religious belief” in terms of raw and refined god-beliefs allows a disambiguation of the term “religion,” and it contributes to the ongoing debate between byproduct theorists and adaptationists by clarifying that raw god-beliefs are biological byproducts while refined god-beliefs are cultural adaptations.
Citation
Howard, R. D. (2015). On the Evolutionary Origins of Religious Belief. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1362
Included in
Cognitive Psychology Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons