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Book Reviews

Book Reviews Book Reviews Pascal Boyer (2001). Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought . New York: Basic Books. ISBN: 0-465-00695-7. 375 pages. A large portion of human thought, feeling, and action can, at least in principle, be explained by the view that our psychological architecture was shaped by natural selection acting in ancestral environments. To a crude Ž rst approximation, one might expect common human activities and appetites to be heavily organized in ways that re ect ties to ancestral evolutionary utility: foraging, mating, evading predators, forming coalitions, engaging in exchange, avoiding contagion, prevent- ing harm, helping kin, raising children. And yet, every day, in every corner of the world, people engage in activities that seem anything but utilitarian. They might talk to an invisible person who is everywhere and knows everything; ask a statue for help; feed a hungry mountain; sacriŽ ce a goat (just the skin and bones) to appease an angry – yet dead – ancestor; purify themselves after having touched a blacksmith; stare down a witch to remove her power to destroy. True, when measured in the currency of Ž tness, such beliefs and practices are occasionally cost-free. But not always. Killing yourself and thousands http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Cognition and Culture Brill

Book Reviews

Journal of Cognition and Culture , Volume 3 (1): 5 – Jan 1, 2003
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1567-7095
eISSN
1568-5373
DOI
10.1163/156853703321598608
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Book Reviews Pascal Boyer (2001). Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought . New York: Basic Books. ISBN: 0-465-00695-7. 375 pages. A large portion of human thought, feeling, and action can, at least in principle, be explained by the view that our psychological architecture was shaped by natural selection acting in ancestral environments. To a crude Ž rst approximation, one might expect common human activities and appetites to be heavily organized in ways that re ect ties to ancestral evolutionary utility: foraging, mating, evading predators, forming coalitions, engaging in exchange, avoiding contagion, prevent- ing harm, helping kin, raising children. And yet, every day, in every corner of the world, people engage in activities that seem anything but utilitarian. They might talk to an invisible person who is everywhere and knows everything; ask a statue for help; feed a hungry mountain; sacriŽ ce a goat (just the skin and bones) to appease an angry – yet dead – ancestor; purify themselves after having touched a blacksmith; stare down a witch to remove her power to destroy. True, when measured in the currency of Ž tness, such beliefs and practices are occasionally cost-free. But not always. Killing yourself and thousands

Journal

Journal of Cognition and Culture – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2003

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