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Religion explained: the evolutionary origins of religious thought
Abstract
The first classic of 21st-century anthropology.--John Tooby and Leda Cosmides, University of California, Santa Barbara. Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as Why do people have religion? Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from.
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Cited by
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Mind Perception Is the Essence of Morality
Gray, K., Young, L., & Waytz, A. (2012) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2012.651387 · Cited by 1,008
The cultural evolution of prosocial religions
Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2016) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x14001356 · Cited by 934
Religion's evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion
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Metadata
- Venue
- Choice Reviews Online
- Publisher
- American Library Association
- Published
- 2002-01-01
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 05
- Pages
- 39-2732a-39-2732a
- ISSN
- 0009-4978 (ISSN-L)
- 1523-8253
- OpenAlex
- W1617267527
- Cited by
- 1,945
- References
- 0
- Type
- book review
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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