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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, But Incomplete, Overview of Cognitive Science of Religion, August 30, 2006
This review is from: Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion (Hardcover)
Tremlin's book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the cognitive foundations of religion. It is well-written, scholarly, and effective in summarizing and distilling some of the main contemporary ideas concerning the cognitive/biological bases of belief in supernatural agents.
The book primarily defends the thesis that belief in gods and other supernatural agents is an evolutionary by-product of cognitive faculties- specifically, agency detection and 'theory of mind'- that evolved to serve the more mundane adaptive function of dealing with complex social environments.
Although plausible naturalistic explanations for the origins of religious belief may contribute, in the context of a broader argument, to undermining the case for the objective existence of gods, Tremlin does not discuss the potential relevance of such explanations to the question of God's existence in this book. Whether or not this is a positive or negative omission will be up to individual readers to decide.
My primary criticism of the book is that it neglects to adequately discuss the powerful emotional motivations for belief in supernatural agents as entities capable of relieving existential anxieties (fear of death, disease, misfortune). Any theory which attempts to explain the origins and persistence of religion without considering the emotional needs satisfied by god beliefs is, I feel, critically incomplete.
Emotional motivations underlying God beliefs are discussed more fully in S. Atran's excellent book (which defends a similar thesis to Tremlin's), In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion and in M.D. Faber's book, The Psychological Roots Of Religious Belief: Searching For Angels And The Parent-god. I recommend also R. Buckman's book, Can We Be Good Without God?: Biology, Behavior, and the Need to Believe and R. Hinde's book, Why Gods Persist.
Apart from this (I think significant) omission, students interested in the cognitive/biological bases of religion will be well rewarded (in this life) by reading Tremlin's book.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do you have God in Mind?, February 20, 2008
This review is from: Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion (Hardcover)
Tremlin gives us an outstanding book that looks to the mental machinery of homo sapiens in order to find where indeed God and his spiritual brethren live. In excellent fashion, the book introduces the reader to an up-to-date account of the evolutionary origins of the human mind and offers convincing speculation grounded in the evidence that there is of the selective pressures that produced such a wonder that sits atop our spinal column.
A key insight given to the reader is that agents (namely other people) were one of the most, if not certainly the most important aspects of our evolutionary environment. Detecting other agents (which also includes animals) and being attuned to clues that often signal them drove our mind to evolve the ADD or agency detection device. Every time that you hear an unfamiliar creak in the middle of the night and your mind seriously entertains the notion that it was a burglar's step and not temperature contraction among the boards, you know you have a working ADD. Every time a hunter sees a leaf move and raises a rifle, you know they have a working ADD.
Tremlin goes on to persuasively argue that the ADD is one of the most crucial aspects for building a mind capable of seriously entertaining and believing in the notion of supernatural beings. Why did you have that car accident immediately following entertaining thoughts of cheating on your spouse? There must have been an agent involved who knew your impure thoughts and became displeased with you! And this agent must have special powers to interrupt normal physical causality with psychological causality!
But detecting and entertaining the notions of agents that probably aren't really there doesn't give us God or Apollo or Thor. Indeed, that takes another special human thought process, our theory of mind or what Tremlin dubs the ToMM - Theory of Mind Mechanism. The ToMM evolved as a specialization of our hyper-social species because whether hypothesizing about what is going on in the mind of the salesman you are wrangling with or with an enemy who is saying peace but who has eyes that say War! - a working theory of mind is of particular survival value. Building upon the evidence for ADD, Tremlin argues successfully that all the various god concepts are a combination of detecting an agent and then theorizing about what is going on in their head.
Adding nuance to his argument, the author then expounds how just any old god concept doesn't entrance the mind. Drawing much from Pascal Boyer's work on counter-intuitiveness, Tremlin synthesizes a growing consensus in the field of cognitive science that minimally counter-intuitive (MCI) concepts are most memorable and relevant. A god that eats spaghetti with a water-hose, drinks dirt, and exists only on every third Thursday won't last long in the minds of humans. He would be too outlandish, or put in the more technical language, he wouldn't achieve a cognitive optimum. On the other side of the coin, a god that is normal except for having the ability to make magic rocks won't make it either; he'd be too mundane. The most cognitively optimal concepts for gods, Tremlin argues, are the ones that utilize the human template and violate it in a strategically important way, such as having access to juicy tidbits (omniscience) like knowing if Brother John got a DUI when he was in Cleveland. Socially strategic information is very important to people (as it tells us who will be good cooperators and who won't be) and therefore it is a prerequisite for any gods who wish to be believed in.
God also has to be practical. And as Tremlin mentions repeatedly, abstract notions of gods that are often entertained by theologians and philosophers don't have many believers. What good is it to believe in a god that is merely the first cause of the universe? If he can't help you with your life, he isn't of much use. A god such as that also doesn't activate our mental templates that generate inferences. This is why theologians who decry anthropomorphic conceptions of god will never make much headway with the congregation. Worshippers may lose the answer of "god is man in the clouds" when asked about the notion, but more often than not, in their "on-line" thinking, such a notion will be utilized. Tremlin cites the experiments conducted by Justin Barrett to back this up.
These things being said, there are some glaring omissions in the book. Death and afterlife beliefs are only summarily dealt with, the notion of sanctification (blessing or cleansing) wasn't covered in depth, and a discussion of the cognitive phenomenon of "essences" such as "sin" in religion was nearly absent (although it was covered in its ontological iteration).
However, despite the omissions, this is still one of the best books available on the topic and the aspects of religion that Tremlin elucidates with power easily outweigh what he leaves out. Students of religion and anyone interested in a grounded psychological explanation of religion will not want to miss this. And, as Tremlin says in the conclusion, a cognitive-scientific explanation of religion isn't about explaining it away (although certain people will still see it that way). It is rather about garnering a deeper understanding of this human phenomenon we call religion and what it can tell us about ourselves.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Review:, July 10, 2008
This review is from: Minds and Gods: The Cognitive Foundations of Religion (Hardcover)
I'll just say that Todd really does a good job solidifying his arguments, and doesn't leave much out. He chooses his words very carefully and draws heavily on previous peoples work (Justin Barrett, Ilka Pyysiainen, Pascal Boyer are constantly being referenced). His careful wording, in turn, requires that much more attention when reading. Sometimes I would get through 5 pages and feel totally wiped out mentally. And this was my first experience with a book on this subject. But when I got done I felt like I had such a solid understanding of how religion works. It's about 200 pages. Great book.
My Summary:
Modularity: Tremlin describes that the brain is composed of several specialized locations. These specialized locations are called modules. The brain has a very large number of modules. One module might be in charge of mathematics, another area might be in charge of knowing who your mother is. There are lots and lots of modules in the brain, all of them combined give rise to consciousness.
Agency Detection Device (ADD): Tremlin describes our ability as humans to see agents. We know the lion is deadly when it's hungry. The shaking bush, could have a snake in it, makes us nervous. Our ability to see these "agents" is extremely widespread. Gods are always agents, actively influencing our lives.
Theory of Mind Mechanism (ToMM): Humans are extremely good at knowing what other people are thinking. When we see someones expression alone we usually have a handle on where their mind is at. This is known as our theory of mind mechanism. And gods are almost always aware of what we are thinking, and know our deepest secrets. They are usually involved in exploiting this subject; which is so vastly important to us as humans.
Explanation of the Variety of Religions: So the "folk" idea of religion, Usually involves a god that is a man, who takes care of your crops and brings good weather, and helps you win a football game/war. Gods are agents influencing the most important aspects of our lives. But there are gaps in logic that are ultimately faced, like why is god a man, who created him, etc. So theologians must find ways to explain these things, making god infinite say. But the "folks" rarely listen to theologians, they basically make the religion up to fit their everyday life. Which explains why most Christians have no idea what's in the bible.
When the theologians take the religion too far away from the "folks", the religion usually splits. And this explains the large number of different churches there are today. And now that folk life is changing faster then ever, new religions are spreading along with it. Religion and society go hand in hand.
Tremlin also argues that Gods must have an intuitive attribute in order to be influential on people. For instance he must be a man, and he is your friend. And he has a set of rules for you to follow. But there also must be something counter-intuitive to him to make him seem magical. For instance he knows what you're thinking. Or he can control the sun. Or he makes earthquakes when he's angry. When the right mix of "intuitive" and "counter-intuitive" ideas come together, the reward is the "folks" spreading the idea and the religion prospering.
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