Methodological Consilience of Evolutionary Ethics and Cognitive Science of Religion
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Cognition and Culture |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342173 |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | evolutionary ethics; cognitive science of religion; consilience; evolutionary psychology; sociobiology; theory and methodology |
| Description | For the larger part of modern western intellectual history, it has been assumed that the study of morality and religion requires special methodology, insulated from, and in some important aspects incongruent with, the scientific method commonly used in the realm of natural sciences. Furthermore, even if it would be granted that moral and religious behavior is amendable to scientific analysis, the prospects of using evolutionary theory in particular to do the heavy lifting in explanation of these phenomena have been bleak, since many scholars doubted that a biological theory could possibly offer any valuable contribution. Recent advances in the fields of Evolutionary Ethics and Cognitive Science of Religion disprove both claims, emphasizing empirically founded explanations, demonstrating extraordinarily high degree of methodological consilience, and revealing utmost importance of the application of evolutionary theory in fields of study once deemed to be exclusive domains of social sciences and philosophy. |
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