Browsing All Posts filed under »dual inheritance«

Abstract for IACSR meeting

February 27, 2012

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This year’s meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion is going to take place at the end of June in Aarhus, Denmark. I’ll be giving a talk there which is basically outlining my overall approach. Many of those who will be there will have heard bits and pieces of it befo […]

Secularisation in Brno

December 26, 2010

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My usual after-conference report has been somewhat delayed by a little thing called Christmas. The turkey, cake and other comestibles are now where they should be, however: So there is a chance to write a few words about the meeting in Brno. The conference’s title was almost as long as the conference itself – Twenty […]

Another dual inheritance convert

November 27, 2010

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Last year, Ryan McKay and Dan Dennett published a BBS target article claiming that it is unlikely that religion could be functional. Ryan has now published a new paper – The Wrath of God – in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B in which he and his coauthors conclude that their results support a […]

Geertz on atheism

November 20, 2010

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The question of whether religion is natural has been discussed in many journal articles and pubs. This is particularly the case since the appearance of New Atheism as a social movement. What has been lacking is an article that brings the various strands of discussion together and explains in what sense atheism and/or religion can […]

Atran & Henrich on religion

October 15, 2010

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For the last couple of years I have been arguing on this blog for a dual inheritance account of religion. Earlier this year Scott Atran and Joe Henrich published in Biological Theory a paper that, I believe, is the most sophisticated dual inheritance account currently available. Now, it turns out that this paper – “The […]

Talking to psychologists in Warsaw

October 15, 2010

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Next week, on Tuesday the 19th, I am going to give a paper at the Psychology Department of Warsaw University. I have been teaching Philosophy of Science as well as Judgement and Decision Making within their Psychology in English programme but this will be the first time that I’ll present my research to that department. […]

In a Mirror, Darkly – another outline

October 8, 2010

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During the course of working on my book I have written a couple of outlines that bear witness to how the project has slowly changed. The latest outline is likely to be close to the final version as more than half the book is now written. Those who have seen the previous outlines will see […]

The Explaining Religion conference in Bristol

September 6, 2010

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There’s something that doesn’t get mentioned often enough by academics. When you’re an academic your work is often a whole lot of fun. For example, the two day conference I just attended in Bristol was in some ways a very serious affair but at the same time thoroughly enjoyable, both intellectually and socially. I mean […]

Abstract for Explaining Religion in Bristol

August 11, 2010

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It is only a few weeks till the Bristol meeting. The talk I plan to give there is a much improved version of the talk I gave in Aarhus. It will, in effect, run through much of what I plan to explain in the central three chapters of my book. So, I will be moving […]