A Natural History of Natural Theology: The Cognitive Science of Theology and Philosophy of Religion

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Helen De Cruz Johan De Smedt

A Natural History of Natural Theology

The Cognitive Science of Theology and Philosophy of Religion

Helen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt

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English

MIT Press
25 June 2024

Islamic & Arabic philosophy

An examination of the cognitive foundations of intuitions about the existence and attributes of God.

An examination of the cognitive foundations of intuitions about the existence and attributes of God.

Questions about the existence and attributes of God form the subject matter of natural theology, which seeks to gain knowledge of the divine by relying on reason and experience of the world. Arguments in natural theology rely largely on intuitions and inferences that seem natural to us, occurring spontaneously-at the sight of a beautiful landscape, perhaps, or in wonderment at the complexity of the cosmos-even to a nonphilosopher. In this book, Helen De Cruz and Johan De Smedt examine the cognitive origins of arguments in natural theology. They find that although natural theological arguments can be very sophisticated, they are rooted in everyday intuitions about purpose, causation, agency, and morality. Using evidence and theories from disciplines including the cognitive science of religion, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary aesthetics, and the cognitive science of testimony, they show that these intuitions emerge early in development and are a stable part of human cognition.

De Cruz and De Smedt analyze the cognitive underpinnings of five well-known arguments for the existence of God- the argument from design, the cosmological argument, the moral argument, the argument from beauty, and the argument from miracles. Finally, they consider whether the cognitive origins of these natural theological arguments should affect their rationality.

By: Helen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262552455
ISBN 10: 0262552450
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 25 June 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Helen De Cruz is Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, UK. Johan De Smedt is an independent scholar.