Although Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is still a rather young discipline\, its main theories have beenthe subject of considerable debate. One main point of discussion is whether cognitive theories explain religion. The title of Pascal Boyer&rsquo\;s book Religion Explained (2002) signals that at least one goal of CSR is to explain religion. Many authors have interpreted &lsquo\;explaining&rsquo\; as explaining away and have argued that CSR?theories have not explained religion away because the truth of religion is compatible with the main theories in CSR.
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This workshop will focus on a different question\, viz. whether CSR?theories allow for a natural
explanation of religion\, where a natural explanation is a scientific one that does not involve anything supernatural or spooky. When it relies on the principle of parsimony (Occam&rsquo\;s Razor)\, a natural explanation of religion makes the existence of anything supernatural superfluous . Daniel Dennett already suggested something along these lines in his 2006 book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Since then\, few scholars have discussed this particular issue in CSR. The topic raises questions about explanation\, naturalism and the evidential weight of religious cognition.
Confirmed speakers:
- Dr. Helen de Cruz (Oxford University)\, author of the upcoming book A Natural History of Natural Theology (2014)
- Prof. Dr. Robert McCauley (Emory University)\, co?author of Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture (1993)\, Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not (2011)
- Prof. Dr. Aku Visala (University of Helsinki)\, author of Naturalism\, Theism and the Cognitive Study of Religion (2011)
We invite contributions from philosophers\, theologians and scientists. Please send a 1\,000 word abstract to h.m.r.a.van.eyghen@vu.nl by June 15th 2015. The abstract should be suitable for blind review. Questions can be sent to the same email address. Possible topics include but are not limited to: