In this essay I will consider Stewart Guthrie 's paper Spiritual Beings: A Darwinian Cognitive Account. The purpose of this essay is to outline Guthrie 's argument about where animism comes from, and where it fits into religion. I will explain his argument as to why gods and spirits are often depicted as invisible and/or intangible, despite being anthropomorphisms. I will argue that although his argument is compelling it presents two weaknesses. Firstly, the resultant definition of religion seem restrictive. Secondly that his argument fails to take into account atheism.
In explaining where animism comes from and how it relates to religion, Guthrie begins by providing two definitions of animism. Firstly as the belief in spiritual beings, and secondly "the attribution of life to the biologically lifeless". In order to further these definitions, Guthrie presents "A Cognitive Theory", with the premise that religion is simply a system of anthropomorphism; which is defined as "the over-detection of human like qualities" in the world around us. This attribution of life to lifeless things is Guthrie 's concept of animism, he claims that animism is derived from our need to ascribe agents to the occurrences in the world around us. He further states that "animism is basic to religion, if not sufficient for it."
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In order to make sense of the ambiguous and complicated world we live in we need a way in which to perceive phenomena. For any given event there could be numerous causes, and instinctively we choose the cause of most significance. These causes are generally ones that represents a humanlike agent. As these agents are not always easy to detect - we often assume there is a humanlike agent behind phenomena regardless of whether we can identify their presence. He notes that Wegner and Mar and Marcae propose we are inclined to see agency even in things such a geometric figures or 'abstract non living
The controversial topic involving the existence of God has been the pinnacle of endless discourse surrounding the concept of religion in the field of philosophy. However, two arguments proclaim themselves to be the “better” way of justifying the existence of God: The Cosmological Argument and the Mystical Argument. While both arguments attempt to enforce strict modus operandi of solidified reasoning, neither prove to be a better way of explaining the existence of God. The downfall of both these arguments rests on commitment of fallacies and lack of sufficient evidence, as a result sabotaging their validity in the field of philosophy and faith.
As children, we are often told stories, some of which may have practical value in the sense of providing young minds with lessons and morals for the future, whereas some stories create a notion of creativity and imagination in the child. In Karen Armstrong’s piece, “Homo Religiosus”, a discussion of something similar to the topic of storytelling could translate to the realm of religion. Armstrong defines religion as a, “matter of doing rather than thinking” (17) which she describes using an example in which adolescent boys in ancient religions, who were not given the time to “find themselves” but rather forced into hunting animals which ultimately prepares these boys to be able to die for their people, were made into men by the process of doing.
It has been the belief of man since the dawn of civilization that somehow he was created above all other creatures, and that life for him, existed outside of the natural world. The interesting perspective Mayr brings to the topic of man and God is that, man may not be so divine as to be able to stand outside the natural order of evolution. Yet despite anthropological evidence, such as fossils, the public has a difficulty in accepting that man and animal had a common ancestor: that man had to evolve to his present state. But in contrast many are not be so surprised to believe that animals underwent and still undergo a constant change.
Man is the product of heredity and environment and that he acts as his machine responds to outside stimuli and nothing else, seem amply proven by the evolution and history of man. Every process of nature and life is a continuous sequence of cause and effect (156).
The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski uses clever and unique critiques of militant atheism and its devotion to scientism. Ten in depth chapters shed light on the dogmatic stance of many of today’s popular “new atheists.” According to Berlinski new atheism poses itself as the sole holder of truth through science, “And like any militant church, this one places a familiar demand before all others: Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (10). Berlinski (a secular Jew) approaches ideas with his own mixture of intelligence and thought filled logic; exploring the world as well as important philosophical questions pertaining to “new atheism”. Thus providing the information needed to explore the sides for both and existence and nonexistence of God.
Evans, C. Stephen. Critical Dialog in Philosophy of Religion. 1985. Downers Grove, IL. InterVarsity Press. Taken from Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, Fourth Edition. 2010. Oxford University Press, NY.
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
In the first two chapter of the book, Freud explores a possible source of religious feeling. He describes an “oceanic feeling of wholeness, limitlessness, and eternity.” Freud himself is unable to experience such a feeling, but notes that there do indeed...
In the midst of his already successful career, Sigmund Freud decided to finally dedicate a book of his to religion, referring to the subject as a phenomena faced by the scientific community. This new work, Totem and Taboo, blew society off its feet, ultimately expanding the reaches of debates and intellectual studies. From the beginning, Freud argues that there exists a parallel between the archaic man and the contemporary compulsive. Both these types of people, he argues, exhibit neurotic behavior, and so the parallel between the two is sound. Freud argues that we should be able to determine the cause of religion the same way we determine the cause of neurosis. He believes, since all neuroses stem from childhood experiences, that the origins of this compulsive behavior we call religion should also be attributed to some childhood experiences of the human race, too. Freudian thought has been dominant since he became well known. In Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans, religion becomes entirely evident as a major part of the novel, but the role it specifically plays is what we should question. Therefore, I argue that Freud’s approach to an inborn sense of religion and the role it plays exists in The Last of the Mohicans, in that the role religion plays in the wilderness manifests itself in the form of an untouchable truth, an innate sense of being, and most importantly, something that cannot and should not be tampered with.
Hick, John. Disputed Questions in Theology and the Philosophy of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Print.
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods, a particular system of faith and worship or a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). From religion, many new groups, communities and further derived religions have formed. Closely related to religion and with endless controversies surrounding it’s classification as a religion is the concept of Atheism- which is defined as the disbelief or rejection of a deity. Descending from this is a social and political movement in favour of secularism known as New Atheism. Understanding the historical content concerning the emergence of atheism, this essay will then address how various aspects within the field inclusive the goals, structures and approaches have emerged and developed over time in comparison to the original atheist ideals.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion in an Age of Science. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .B368 1990)
6. Bohdan R. Bociurkiw and John W. Strong, Religion and Atheism in the U.S.S.R. and
We will discuss on the article of Intentional System Theory by a philosopher Daniel Dennett. The argument that we are going to use from this theory is about the intentional theory where Daniel Dennett thinks that both human and objects have beliefs and desires and from that the behaviors can be interpreted. From the article itself, Intentional System Theory is defined as an analysis of the meanings where people use the terms such as ‘believe’, ‘desire’, ‘expect’, ‘decide’, and ‘intend’ or in the terms of ‘folk psychology’ that we use to interpret, explain, and predict the behavior of other human beings including ourselves, animals and some artifacts such as robots and computers (Daniel, 2009).