Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Pascal Boyer, Homo Sapiens, Theism
Document Summary
October-04-12: where we are, arguments for theism, ontological, cosmological = four ways, design argument,( first mover, first cause, contingency), It seems that many people feel an invisible presence; a conscious force that accompanies them. This seems to point to the existence of god or gods: pascal boyer, washington university, most famous person working on this theory, wrote: religion explained, the evolutionary origins of religious thought. Why do dogs bark at falling snowflakes: they think they are alive, mechanism to detect the presence of agents. Think of how costly it might be for an animal to fail. In their brains : hyperactive agency detection device (hadd) to detect the presence of an agent. Self-critical: this is only a small part of the story that cognitive science of religious has to tell. We generally think of traditional religious doctrines as incredibly ancient, and totally unchangeable. 2500 years is nothing in history of homo sapiens, let alone in the history of the planet.