Do Big Gods cause anything?
Although the author is sympathetic to Norenzayan's book, he takes issue with three crucial problems, namely the issues of causality, atheism, and hunter-gatherer cultures. He argues that assigning Big Gods a causal role in the development of large-scale, complex societies is highly problematic,...
| Subtitles: | Review Symposium on Ara Norenzayan: "Big Gods: how religion transformed cooperation and conflict" (2013) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2014]
|
| In: |
Religion
Year: 2014, Volume: 44, Issue: 4, Pages: 609-613 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Norenzayan, Ara 1970-, Big gods
/ Hunter
/ Idea of God
/ Development
/ Atheism
|
| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AE Psychology of religion AG Religious life; material religion BG World religions |
| Summary: | Although the author is sympathetic to Norenzayan's book, he takes issue with three crucial problems, namely the issues of causality, atheism, and hunter-gatherer cultures. He argues that assigning Big Gods a causal role in the development of large-scale, complex societies is highly problematic, that attempts to explain atheism are also based on misplaced causal assumptions, and that evidence on hunter-gatherers collected on the basis of evolutionary theories should be more critically analyzed. |
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| ISSN: | 0048-721X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion
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