Papers by Ilkka Pyysiäinen
BRILL eBooks, Jun 6, 2017
Teologinen Aikakauskirja, 2009
Everybody claims to be an expert on religion. At least, so it seems when the subject of religion ... more Everybody claims to be an expert on religion. At least, so it seems when the subject of religion comes up. If the individual is religious, then the task is to explain the truth of one's religion and to explain the existence (and sometimes falsity) of others. If the individual is not religious (in the conventional sense of the term), then the individual will have an explanation as to why everyone else is religious, usually to the effect that most people are gullible, that religion relieves anxiety or some other psychological malady, or that religion began as an explanation of the unexplainable and is now, thanks to modern science, a vestige of the ancient world that will eventually wither away. [2] The game of explaining religion is played by scholars as well, and in modern times has seen contributions from a variety of elds, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, to religious studies, respectively represented by such classic voices as E. B. Tylor, Emile Durkehim, Sigmund Freud, and James Frazer. Biology is a relative latecomer to this discourse, but since the publication of E. O Wilson's Sociobiology in 1975 and Richard Dawkins The Sel sh Gene in 1976, there has been a steady stream of research and speculation as to the evolutionary origins of morality and religion and the link between the two. [3] Donald Broom's The Evolution of Morality and Religion is a contribution to this eld of literature, which has burgeoned within the last decade. Broom is Colleen Macleod Professor of Animal Welfare in the Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. It is a distinctive and unusual vantage point from which to write about the evolution of morality and religion, one that is fraught with dangers since veterinary medicine provides no background in philosophy and religion and also puts him at some distance from the primary research in evolutionary biology. By itself, this is neither here nor there; many scholars are accomplished virtuosi who are able to cross disciplinary boundaries with ease. In Broom's case, this is less so, and the result is a work that, while serviceable in some aspects, neither stands out in originality nor does justice to the complexity of the phenomena it examines. [4] Broom's thesis, as the title implies, is straightforward: the origin and signi cance of religion and morality can be explained on evolutionary grounds. For Broom, this is both a descriptive and normative claim. Descriptively, Broom claims that evolutionary biology can give an account of how morality arises in biological organisms and what role religion plays in supporting morality. Norc July 8, 2005, Ars Disputandi. If you would like to cite this article, please do so as follows: Gregory R. Peterson, `Review of The Evolution of Morality and Religion,' Ars Disputandi [] 5 (2005), paragraph number.
This book presents a detailed argument to support the view that religion as a cultural practice c... more This book presents a detailed argument to support the view that religion as a cultural practice cannot be properly explained without knowledge of the evolved cognitive mechanisms by which humans process information. This publication has also been published in hardback, please click here for details.
Religion, brain and behavior, 2011
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2004
Anthropological Quarterly, 2004
Oxford University Press eBooks, Mar 20, 2014
Corrupt Doctrine and Doctrinal Revival: On the Nature and Limits of the Modes Theory II ILKKAPYYS... more Corrupt Doctrine and Doctrinal Revival: On the Nature and Limits of the Modes Theory II ILKKAPYYSIAINEN THIS CHAPTER EXPLORES THE DYNAMICS of doctrinal revival, using as a case example the emergence of the Laestadian revivalist movement within the Lutheran ...
Ultimate Reality and Meaning, Jun 1, 1999
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BRILL eBooks, 2008
analysis and as descriptor of what "early Christianity" and "early Judaism" were. Th e book's ess... more analysis and as descriptor of what "early Christianity" and "early Judaism" were. Th e book's essays appeal to a very particular mix of science, although this mix is characterized in the book as science in general. Th e scientifi c mix that matters for this project is social psychology of religion-or what it refers to as "cognitive science"-and occasional neurology. Most of the essays appeal to naturalized categories of analysis and assume that "science" has established a universal analytical vocabulary. Th e scientifi c analysis in the book rises above historical particularities, and seeks to minimize socio-cultural diff erences both synchronically and diachronically. It sees itself as a pioneering initiative that integrates science and the study of early Christianity and Judaism. Th is initiative involves and is invested in a sympathetic comparison between early Christian (and Jewish) social phenomena and patterns observed by
Tieteessa Tapahtuu, Jun 11, 2014
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Papers by Ilkka Pyysiäinen