Dr. Robert McCauley is the William Rand Kenan Jr. University Professor of Philosophy at the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, at Emory University. Dr. McCauley is a professor of philosophy, psychology, religion, and anthropology who is a pioneer in the cognitive science of religion. He is also the author of Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not and of Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive Science of Religion as well as the co-author with E. Thomas Lawson of both Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms and Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture. Dr. McCauley is also the editor of The Churchlands and Their Critics and the co-editor with Harvey Whitehouse of Mind and Religion.

In this episode, we go through some of the basics of the cognitive science of religion, and also how it goes through addressing the study of religion in its biological, cognitive/psychological and cultural aspects. We start by defining cognitive psychology of religion, and its methods. We then address the relationship between biology and culture, and how to go from cognition to culture. We talk briefly about some of the major cognitive bases of religion, and the role that rituals play in religion. Dr. McCauley also goes through a slide that summarizes the evolutionary approaches that we have to the study of religion, including natural selection, sexual selection, group selection, and how they might operate at the level of genetics, individuals and groups. And we finish off by talking about the aspects in which religion is intuitive to people, and why science is so counterintuitive, and also the relationship between science and religion.

Time Links:

01:11 What is the cognitive science of religion?

12:24 The limitations of pure cultural approaches

19:00 The relationship between biology and culture

24:47 How to get from cognition to culture, and from culture to cognition

35:21 How language might influence the way we perceive the world

47:19 The cognitive bases of religion

1:00:04 Religion is not a special human cultural phenomenon completely separate from the others

1:08:10 The importance of ritual in religion, and its function

1:26:14 The issue with interpretation in the study of religion

1:33:06 Evolutionary approaches to religion

1:46:45 Why religion is natural, and science is not

1:54:54 Is science a sociocultural construct?

1:57:49 Are science and religion compatible with one another?

2:05:16 Follow Dr. McCauley’s work!

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