Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion
Author: Robert Vinten
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2023-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350329363

Advancing our understanding of one of the most influential 20th-century philosophers, Robert Vinten brings together an international line up of scholars to consider the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's ideas to the cognitive science of religion. Wittgenstein's claims ranged from the rejection of the idea that psychology is a 'young science' in comparison to physics to challenges to scientistic and intellectualist accounts of religion in the work of past anthropologists. Chapters explore whether these remarks about psychology and religion undermine the frameworks and practices of cognitive scientists of religion. Employing philosophical tools as well as drawing on case studies, contributions not only illuminate psychological experiments, anthropological observations and neurophysiological research relevant to understanding religious phenomena, they allow cognitive scientists to either heed or clarify their position in relation to Wittgenstein's objections. By developing and responding to his criticisms, Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion offers novel perspectives on his philosophy in relation to religion, human nature, and the mind.

4E Cognitive Science and Wittgenstein

4E Cognitive Science and Wittgenstein
Author: Victor Loughlin
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2022-01-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3030894630

This book demonstrates for the first time how the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein can transform 4E Cognitive Science. In particular, it shows how insights from Wittgenstein can empower those within 4E to reject the long held view that our minds must involve representations inside our heads. The book begins by showing how proponents of 4E are divided amongst themselves. Proponents of Extended Mind insist that internal representations are always needed to explain the human mind. However, proponents of Enacted Mind reject this claim. Using insights from Ludwig Wittgenstein, the book introduces and defends a new theoretical framework called Structural Enacted or Extended Mind (STEEM). STEEM brings together Enacted Mind and Extended Mind in a way that rejects all talk of internal representations. STEEM thus highlights the anti-representationalist credentials of 4E and so demonstrates how 4E can herald a new beginning when it comes to thinking about the mind.

Doubt, Ethics and Religion

Doubt, Ethics and Religion
Author: Luigi Perissinotto
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2013-05-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110321882

This book explores Wittgenstein's conception of ethics, religion and philosophy. It aims at providing us with the tools necessary for assessing to what extent the Austrian philosopher can be considered an anti-Enlightenment thinker. The articles collected in this volume explore the relationship between Wittgenstein's thought and that of several authors who were, in various ways, key to the counter-enlightenement, authors such as Hume, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, James and Pierce. One of the central issues examined here is Wittgenstein's opposition to the Cartesian method of doubt – a cornerstone of the enlightened movement against prejudice and superstition.

Wittgenstein within the Philosophy of Religion

Wittgenstein within the Philosophy of Religion
Author: Thomas D. Carroll
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1137407905

The commonly held view that Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion is fideistic loses plausibility when contrasted with recent scholarship on Wittgenstein's corpus and biography. This book reevaluates the place of Wittgenstein in the philosophy of religion and charts a path forward for the subfield by advancing three themes.

Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion
Author: Robert Vinten
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2023-06-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350329371

Advancing our understanding of one of the most influential 20th-century philosophers, Robert Vinten brings together an international line up of scholars to consider the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's ideas to the cognitive science of religion. Wittgenstein's claims ranged from the rejection of the idea that psychology is a 'young science' in comparison to physics to challenges to scientistic and intellectualist accounts of religion in the work of past anthropologists. Chapters explore whether these remarks about psychology and religion undermine the frameworks and practices of cognitive scientists of religion. Employing philosophical tools as well as drawing on case studies, contributions not only illuminate psychological experiments, anthropological observations and neurophysiological research relevant to understanding religious phenomena, they allow cognitive scientists to either heed or clarify their position in relation to Wittgenstein's objections. By developing and responding to his criticisms, Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion offers novel perspectives on his philosophy in relation to religion, human nature, and the mind.

Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture

Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture
Author: Armin W. Geertz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 429
Release: 2014-09-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317544552

Attempts to understand the origins of humanity have raised fundamental questions about the complex relationship between cognition and culture. Central to the debates on origins is the role of religion, religious ritual and religious experience. What came first: individual religious (ecstatic) experiences, collective observances of transition situations, fear of death, ritual competence, magical coercion; mirror neurons or temporal lobe religiosity? Cognitive scientists are now providing us with important insights on phylogenetic and ontogenetic processes. Together with insights from the humanities and social sciences on the origins, development and maintenance of complex semiotic, social and cultural systems, a general picture of what is particularly human about humans could emerge. Reflections on the preconditions for symbolic and linguistic competence and practice are now within our grasp. Origins of Religion, Cognition and Culture puts culture centre stage in the cognitive science of religion.

Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion
Author: Robert Vinten
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: Germany
ISBN: 9781350329386

Advancing our understanding of one of the most influential 20th-century philosophers, Robert Vinten brings together an international line up of scholars to consider the relevance of Ludwig Wittgenstein's ideas to the cognitive science of religion. Wittgenstein's claims ranged from the rejection of the idea that psychology is a 'young science' in comparison to physics to challenges to scientistic and intellectualist accounts of religion in the work of past anthropologists. Chapters explore whether these remarks about psychology and religion undermine the frameworks and practices of cognitive scientists of religion. Employing philosophical tools as well as drawing on case studies, contributions not only illuminate psychological experiments, anthropological observations and neurophysiological research relevant to understanding religious phenomena, they allow cognitive scientists to either heed or clarify their position in relation to Wittgenstein's objections. By developing and responding to his criticisms, Wittgenstein and the Cognitive Science of Religion offers novel perspectives on his philosophy in relation to religion, human nature, and the mind.

The Cognitive Science of Religion

The Cognitive Science of Religion
Author: Asst Prof James A. Van Slyke
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1409481654

The cognitive science of religion is a relatively new academic field in the study of the origins and causes of religious belief and behaviour. The focal point of empirical research is the role of basic human cognitive functions in the formation and transmission of religious beliefs. However, many theologians and religious scholars are concerned that this perspective will reduce and replace explanations based in religious traditions, beliefs, and values. This book attempts to bridge the reductionist divide between science and religion through examination and critique of different aspects of the cognitive science of religion and offers a conciliatory approach that investigates the multiple causal factors involved in the emergence of religion.

On Christology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science and the Human Body

On Christology, Anthropology, Cognitive Science and the Human Body
Author: Martin Claes
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350296104

This book reads texts of Augustine on the topic of the human body in the context of contemporary debates in philosophical theology and relevant authors from the cognitive science of religion. Martin Claes focuses particularly on Augustine's special position in the intellectual discourses of Western philosophy (free will, theodicy), theology (grace, incarnation) and humanities (anthropology, political sciences, law), arguing that his written work is an excellent point of departure for a multidimensional scholarly approach. The reading in this book shows that a different picture emerges if we make the effort to situate Augustine's mature anthropology within contemporary debates in philosophical theology and cognitive science of religion. Omnipotence, vulnerability, suffering but also purification and perfection are discussed in dialogue between patristic and philosophical theology; the human offers the clue to concepts of unity in diversity in Christ.