Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt
The MIT Press
release date December 2014 (US) /January 2015 (world)
Available for preorder on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Theology-CognitivePhilosophy/dp/0262028549
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-History-Theology-CognitivePhilosophy/dp/0262028549
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Arguments for the existence of God, such as the moral, design, and
cosmological argument, have an enduring popularity across times and
cultures. This book examines the cognitive origins of the enduring
fascination with natural theology, looking at the intuitions that underlie its
practice. We argue that intuitions that underlie arguments in natural
theology have a stable cognitive basis and emerge early in development.
While natural theological arguments can be very sophisticated, they are
rooted in everyday intuitions about purpose, causation, agency, and
morality that emerge early in development and that are a stable part of
human cognition.
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This book contains an in-depth examination of the cognitive basis of
natural theological arguments, using historical and contemporary versions
of these arguments as they are developed by theologians and philosophers
of religion. It integrates this with theories and empirical findings from the
cognitive sciences, in particular the multidisciplinary endeavor of the
cognitive
science
developmental
of
religion,
psychology,
which
cognitive
incorporates
anthropology,
among
and
others
cognitive
neuroscience.
We challenge two ideas that are widespread in cognitive science of religion,
theology, and philosophy of religion: (1) that natural theology is a highly
arcane endeavor, far removed from everyday cognitive dispositions, (2) that
questions about the origin and justification of religious beliefs should be
considered separately. We find that arguments in natural theology resonate
deeply with intuitions that humans universally hold. Therefore, natural
theology builds upon cognitive foundations that also underlie folk religious
beliefs. We also challenge the strict division between justification and
origins of religious belief, as the intuitions underlying natural theological
arguments—by which religious beliefs are traditionally defended—are the
result of evolved cognitive propensities.
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“A new and illuminating look at arguments for the existence of
God. Brings to bear up-to-date knowledge of cognitive science
to show that the staying power of the traditional proofs is no
accident; they are deeply rooted in the ways we cognize the
world.”
— Howard Wettstein, Professor of Philosophy, University
of California, Riverside; author of The Significance of
Religious Experience
“In A Natural History of Natural Theology the enduring
tradition of natural theology meets an academic newcomer,
the cognitive science of religion. In this unique meeting, De
Cruz and De Smedt offer a bold, fascinating, and remarkably
clear
account
of
the
cognitive
basis
of
theological
arguments. A Natural History of Natural Theology will not
only be appreciated by cognitive scientists and theologians,
but will be of interest to anyone who has ever considered
arguments for or against the existence of God.”
— Richard Sosis, James Barnett Professor of Humanistic
Anthropology, University of Connecticut; cofounder and
coeditor of Religion, Brain & Behavior
“Science has long forced theological thinkers to respond to
new evidence about the nature of the world. De Cruz and De
Smedt go a step further: what happens to theology when the
science in question is the science of theological thought itself?
This ambitious book represents an exciting new chapter in
the science–theology dialogue.”
—Justin L. Barrett, Thrive Professor of Developmental
Science, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology; author of Born
Believers: The Science of Children’s Religious Belief
“ Why is religion culturally universal? Why do our senses of
order, design, and beauty lead us to infer a Designer? De
Cruz and De Smedt lucidly and seamlessly join philosophy
with cognitive science to provide accessible, empirically
based answers. Their huge achievement greatly advances
religious studies.”
—Stewart Elliott Guthrie, Professor Emeritus of
Anthropology, Fordham University; author of Faces in the
Clouds: A New Theory of Religion
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1. Natural Theology and Natural History
Two Questions about Religion
What Is Natural Theology?
What Is Cognitive Science of Religion?
Summary
2. The Naturalness of Religious Beliefs
The Human Cognitive Toolbox
Intuitive Ontologies as Natural Modes of Reasoning
Naturalness
Intuitiveness
Summary
3. Intuitions about God’s Knowledge: Anthropomorphism or Preparedness?
Is Natural Theology Cognitively Unnatural?
Divine Attributes
God Concepts as a Form of Anthropomorphism
The Preparedness Hypothesis
A Conflict between Anthropomorphism and Preparedness?
Toward an Integrated Account
Preparedness and Cognitive Load
Anthropomorphism and Efficient Cognitive Processing
The Tragedy of the Theologian Revisited
Summary
4. Teleology, the Design Stance, and the Argument from Design
The Argument from Design
How We Infer Design
Are Humans Intuitive Theists?
Intuitive Probability: Can Chance Events Produce Order and
Complexity?
A Rational Basis for Disagreement
Is There Still a Place for the Design Argument?
Summary
5. The Cosmological Argument and Intuitions about Causality and Agency
The Cosmological Argument and Human Cognition
Causal Cognition and the Inference to a First Cause
Intuitions about Agency in the Identification of God
Evolutionary Debunking Arguments
Internalist Justification
Summary
6. The Moral Argument in the Light of Evolutionary Ethics
The Argument from Moral Awareness
The Evolution of Human Morality
The Argument from Moral Objectivism
Is Moral Realism Intuitive?
CSR and the Link between Theism and Morality
Evolutionary Debunking Arguments against Moral Realism
Are Theism and Evolutionary Ethics Compatible?
Summary
7. The Argument from Beauty and the Evolutionary Basis of Aesthetic
Experience
Aesthetic Arguments
Aesthetic Appreciation as Universal Human Behavior
Evolutionary Aesthetics
Beauty and Sexual Selection
Aesthetic Appreciation and Evolved Sensory Biases
The Biophilia Hypothesis
Cognitive and Evolutionary Explanations of the Sense of the
Sublime
Linking Aesthetic Properties with God’s Existence
Aesthetic Experience and Religious Fictionalism
Summary
8. The Argument from Miracles and the Cognitive Science of Religious
Testimony
The Argument from Miracles
Defining Miracles from Historical and Cognitive Perspectives
The Cultural Transmission of Minimally Counterintuitive ideas
Reliance on Testimony to Miracles
Implications for the Argument from Miracles
Summary
9. The Natural History of Religion and the Rationality of Religious Beliefs
Natural History of Religion and Justification
Undercutting and Rebutting Defeaters
Generalized Evolutionary Debunking Strategies and CSR
Specific Evolutionary Debunking Arguments against Religion
Does CSR Debunk or Vindicate Natural Theology? 194
Summary
Notes
References
Index
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