ZYGO Zygon® 0591-2385 1467-9744 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2008.00902.x IS A COMPLETE BIOCOGNITIVE ACCOUNT OF RELIGION FEASIBLE? Oviedo Lluís 02 03 2008 43 1 10.1111/zygo.2008.43.issue-1 103 126 2008 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygon

The biological and cognitive approach to religion has matured somewhat and reveals interesting results. Nevertheless, some questions arise about its foundation and development. The essay offers a review of current research in the cognitive field, focusing on its conclusions, the internal discussions, and the problems that need more study or correction. Emphasis is placed on a more intricate account of the factors involved in religious experience, discussing the proper use of the discoveries of biocognitive research and the limits that should be placed on said conclusions.

 biology of religion cognitive science limits of science religion and science religious mind religious studies Alles, Gregory D.2006. “The So‐called Cognitive Optimum and the Cost of Religious Concepts.Method and Theory in the Study of Religion  18:325–50. Atkinson, Anthony P., and MichaelWheeler. 2004. “The Grain of Domains: The Evolutionary‐Psychological Case against Domain‐General Cognition.Mind and Language  19:147–76. Atran, Scott. 2002. In Gods We Trust. New York and Oxford : Oxford Univ. Press. Atran, Scott, and AraNorenzayan. 2004. “Religions Evolutionary Landscape: Counterintuition, Commitment, Compassion, Communion.Behavioral and Brain Sciences  27:713–70. AzariNina P., JanpeterNickel, et al.2001. “Neural Correlates of Religious Experience.European Journal of Neuroscience  13:1649–52. Baltes, Paul B., Patricia A.Reuter‐Lorenz, and FrankRosler, eds. 2006. Lifespan Development and the Brain: The Perspective of Biocultural Co‐Constructivism. Cambridge , U.K., and New York : Cambridge Univ. Press. Barrett, Justin L.1999. “Theological Correctness: Cognitive Constraints in the Study of Religion.Method and Theory in the Study of Religion  11 (4): 325–39. Barrett, Justin L.2004. Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Walnut Creek, Calif, Lanham, Md., and Oxford , U.K. : Altamira. Bering, Jesse M.2006a. “The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural.American Scientist  94: 142–49. Bering, Jesse M.2006b. “The Folk Psychology of Souls.Behavioral and Brain Sciences  29:453–98. Boyer, Pascal. 2001. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. New York : Basic Books. Boyer, Pascal. 2004. “Out of Africa: Lessons from a By‐Product of Evolution  .” In Religion as a Human Capacity: A Festschrift in Honour of E. Thomas Lawson, ed. TimothyLight and Brian C.Wilson, 27–44. Leiden, Holland, and Boston , Mass. : Brill. Bulbulia, Joseph. 2005. “Are There Any Religions? An Evolutionary Exploration.Method and Theory in the Study of Religion  17:71–100. Bulbulia, Joseph. 2006. “Natures Medicine: Religiosity as an Adaptation for Health and Cooperation  .” In Where God and Science Meet. Vol. 1: Evolution, Genes and the Religious Brain, ed. PatrickMcNamara, 87–121. Westport, Conn., and London : Praeger. Buller, David J.2005. Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and the Persistent Quest for Human Nature. Cambridge : MIT Press. Campbell, Robert A., YvonnePetry, GaryDiver, and William A.Stahl, eds. 2002. Webs of Reality: Social Perspectives on Science and Religion. Piscataway , N.J. : Rutgers Univ. Press. Cimatti, Felice. 2004. Il senso della mente. Per una critica del cognitivismo [The Meaning of Mind: A Critique of Cognitivism]. Torino : Boringhieri. Cosmides, Leda, and JohnTooby2000. “Consider the Source: The Evolution of Adaptation for Decoupling and Metarepresentation  .” In Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplin‐ary Perspective, ed. DanSperber, 53–115. Oxford and New York : Oxford Univ. Press. Dawkins, Richard. 2003. A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science and Hope. Boston : Houghton Mifflin. Deacon, Terrence W.1997. The Symbolic Species: The Co‐evolution of Language and the Human Brain. New York : Norton. Dennett, Daniel. 1991. Consciousness Explained. Boston and London : Little, Brown. Dennett, Daniel. 2006. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. New York : Viking. Donald, Merlin. 1991. Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition. Cambridge, Mass., and London : Harvard Univ. Press. Donald, Merlin. 2001. A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness. New York and London : W. W. Norton. Dow, James W.2006. “The Evolution of Religion: Three Anthropological Approaches.Method and Theory in the Study of Religion  18:67–91. Dupré, John. 2001. Human Nature and the Limits of Science. Oxford : Clarendon. Elman, Jeffrey L., Elizabeth A.Bates, et al.1998. Rethinking Innateness: A Connectionist Perspective on Development. Cambridge : MIT Press. Fauconnier, Gilles, and MarkTurner. 2002. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Minds Hidden Complexities. New York : Basic Books. Fodor, Jerry. 2000. The Mind Doesn't Work That Way. Cambridge : MIT Press. Fowler, James W.1991. “Stages in Faith Consciousness.New Directions for Child Development  52:27–46. Haught, John F.2006. Is Nature Enough? Meaning and Truth. Cambridge , U.K. , and New York : Cambridge Univ. Press. Jablonka, Eva, and MarionJ.LambM.J. 2005. Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life. Cambridge : MIT Press. Kirkpatrick, Lee A.2006. “Religion Is Not an Adaptation  .” In Where God and Science Meet. Vol. 1: Evolution, Genes and the Religious Brain, ed. PatrickMcNamara, 159–79. West‐port, Conn., and London : Praeger. Lawson, E. Thomas, and Robert N.McCauley1990. Rethinking Religion: Connecting Cognition and Culture. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press. Lewontin, Richard C.1997. “Billions and Billions of Demons  . New York Review of Books  , January 9. Luhmann, Niklas. 1987. Soziale Systeme: Grundriss einer allgemeinen Theorie. Frankfurt a.M , Germany : Suhrkamp. Luhmann, Niklas. 1989. Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik: Studien zur Wissenssoziologie der modernen Gesellschaft. Band 3. Frankfurt a.M. , Germany : Suhrkamp. Luhmann, Niklas. 1990. Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt a.M. , Germany : Suhrkamp. Markusson, Gudmundur I.2007. “The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.Journal of Cognition and Culture  7:3690–73. Martin, Luther H.2004. “‘Disenchanting’ the Comparative Study of Religion.Method and Theory in the Study of Religion  16:36–44. McCutcheon, Russell T.2001. Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion. Albany : State Univ. of New York Press. Murphy, Nancey2003. “The Role of Philosophy in Theology‐Science Dialogue.Theology and Science  1:79–93. Nassehi, Armin. 2003. Geschlossenheit und Offenheit: Studien zur Theorie der modernen Gesellschaft. Frankfurt a.M , Germany : Suhrkamp. O'Hear, Anthony. 1997. Beyond Evolution: Human Nature and the Limits of Evolutionary Explanation. Oxford : Clarendon. Oser, Fritz K.1991. “The Development of Religious Judgment  .” In Religious Development in Childhood and Adolescence, ed. FritzOser and WGeorge Scarlett, 5–23. San Francisco , Calif : Jossey‐Bass. Oviedo, Lluís. 2006. “Religious Experience: First‐, Second‐ and Third‐Person Accounts.Archivio di Filosofia  I:391–401. Panksepp, Jaak, and Jules B.Panksepp. 2000. “The Seven Sins of Evolutionary Psychology.Evolution and Cognition  6:108–31. Papineau, David. 2003. The Roots of Reason: Philosophical Essays on Rationality Evolution and Probability. Oxford and New York : Oxford Univ. Press. Pargament, Kenneth I.1997. The Psychology of Religious Coping. New York : Guilford. Peterson, Gregory R.2003. Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive Sciences. Minneapolis : Fortress. Petrovich, Olivera. 2005. Origins of Religion in Human Development: The Issue of Innate‐ness  . Unpublished paper delivered at Oriel College, Oxford, 10 February. Pinker, Steven. 1994. The Language Instinct. New York : HarperCollins. Pyysiäinen, Ilkka. 2001. How Religion Works: Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion. Leiden, Holland, and Boston , Mass. : Brill. Pyysiäinen, Ilkka. 2004. Magic, Miracles, and Religion: A Scientist's Perspective. Walnut Creek, Calif, and Lanham , Md. : Altamira. Reich, K. Helmut. 1997. “Integrating Differing Theories: The Case of Religious Development  .” In The Psychology of Religion: Theoretical Approaches, ed. BernardSpilka and Daniel N.McIntosh, 105–13. Boulder , Colo. : Westview. Reich, K. Helmut. 2003. “Cognitive Preconditions for Religious Development.Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion  14:11–25. Rottschaefer, William A.2004. “Religions Evolutionary Landscape Needs Pruning with Ockhams Razor.” Response to “Religions Evolutionary Landscape: Counterintuition, Commitment, Compassion, Communion” by Scott Atran and Ara Norenzayan. Behavioral and Brain Sciences  27:713–70; 747f. Saver, Jeffrey L., and JohnRabin. 1997. “The Neural Substrates of Religious Experience.The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences  9:498–510. Sjöblom, Tom. 2007. “Spandrels, Gazelles, and Flying Buttresses: Religion as Adaptation or as a By‐Product.Journal of Cognition and Culture  7:293–312. Slone, D. Jason. 2004. Theological Incorrectness: Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldnt. Oxford and New York : Oxford Univ. Press. Slyke, Van J. A. 2005. “Religious Concepts and Explicit Cognitive Systems: Rethinking the Modular View of Mind and the Development of Religious Beliefs and Actions  .” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR), Rochester, N.Y, 4‐6 November. Sosis, Richard, and CandaceAlcorta. 2003. “Signaling, Solidarity, and the Sacred: The Evolution of Religious Behavior.Evolutionary Anthropology  12:264–74. Sperber, Dan. 1996. Explaining Culture: A Naturalistic Approach. Oxford and Malden , Mass. : Blackwell. Sperber, Dan. 2000. Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Oxford and New York : Oxford Univ. Press. Tomasello, Michael. 1999. The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, Mass., and London , U.K. : Harvard Univ. Press. Varela, Francisco, and JonathanShear. 1999. The View from Within: First Person Methodologies for the Study of Consciousness. Bowling Green, Ohio, and Thorverton , U.K : Imprint Academic. Whitehouse, Harvey. 2004. Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission. Walnut Creek, Calif., Lanham, Md., and Oxford : Altamira. Wilson, Robert A.2004. Boundaries of the Mind: The Individual in the Fragile Sciences. Cognition. Cambridge, U.K., and New York : Cambridge Univ. Press. Wilson, David Sloan. 2002. Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion and the Nature of Society. Chicago : Univ. of Chicago Press.