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Department of Philosophy

Recent Seminars and Lectures

Steven Clarke (Oxford) - Religion as an Evolutionary By-product: A Critique of the Standard Model

27th October 2011, 11:30, Room 005, 48/49 Old Elvet

Weekly Research Seminar

Please note that this seminar was held in room 005, 48/49 Old Elvet, Durham.  Refreshments were served from 11am with the talk commencing  at 11.30am.

Title: Religion as an Evolutionary By-product: A Critique of the Standard Model.

Abstract:

The dominant view in the cognitive science of religion (the 'Standard Model') is that religious belief and behaviour are not adaptive traits but rather incidental byproducts of the cognitive architecture of mind. Because evidence for the Standard Model is inconclusive, the case for it depends crucially on its alleged methodological superiority to selectionist alternatives. However, we show that the Standard Model has both methodological and evidential disadvantages when compared with selectionist alternatives. We also consider a pluralistic approach, which holds that religion or various aspects of religion originated as byproducts of evolved cognitive structures but were subsequently co-opted for adaptive purposes. We argue that when properly formulated, the pluralistic approach also has certain advantages over the Standard Model.

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