LFU:online

Familiarity with contemporary scientific accounts of religion, and the ability to construct and critique arguments for religious skepticism based on these accounts.

Most humans at most times have practiced religion.  But why?  Recently, researchers working in the cognitive science of religion, evolutionary biology, and cultural anthropology have begun to offer powerful explanations for religious belief and behavior.  Do such explanations “explain away” religion by providing reasons to be skeptical of religious claims?  Or might such explanations provide additional evidence for or against certain religious claims?  We will read several examples of contemporary explanations for the origin of religious belief and decide for ourselves whether such explanations have philosophical or theological implications.

Collective discussions of texts read outside of class.

Active participation, presentation, and term paper.

Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict, Norenzayan, Princeton University Press 2013.
Evolution, Religion, and Cognitive Science: Critical and Constructive Essays, Watts & Turner, Oxford University Press 2014.
Various papers to be made available electronically.

None.