From: Steele, Kirk A (SteeleKA@nafm.misawa.af.mil)
Date: Thu Jan 31 2002 - 08:39:32 MST
Record (38)
TitleCognitive theism: sources of accommodation between secularism and
religion.
DatabaseExpanded Academic Index ASAP
Author(s)Glassman, Robert B.
FromZygon June 1996, v31, n2, p157(51)
Subjects/DescriptorsSecularism -- Moral and ethical aspects
Monotheism -- Moral and ethical aspects
Belief and doubt -- Moral and ethical aspects
Civilization -- Religious aspects
Symbiosis -- Moral and ethical aspects
ISSN0591-2385
AbstractReligion persists, even within enlightened secular society, because
it has adaptive functions. In particular, Ralph Wendell Burhoe's theory
holds that religion is the repository of cultural wisdom that most
encourages mutual altruism among nonkin, long-term social survival, and
human progress. This article suggests a variant of Burhoe's rationalized
naturalistic view. Cognitive theism is a proposal that secularists sometimes
take religion on its own terms by suspending disbelief about God. If we
consider particular human capacities and limitations in memory, perception,
personality, and motivation, the regulated "mind expansion" of cognitive
theism may help us to evaluate, coordinate, and invigorate things in a
modern environment. In this environment, communicative and travel
technologies have led to a high loading of consciousness with a historically
unusual diverse range of experiences and responsibilities, a high rate of
cultural change relative to biological evolution, and a tendency to
factionalize. Burhoe's extension of the concept of symbiosis to the
coevolution of culture and genes is modified here in recognition of
individual differences and of individuals' potential for choosing
strategies, recombining in groups, and learning. In human biocultural
symbiont pools, cultural phenomena can evolve while changing partners in a
dance with genetic substrates, a dance that broadly supports these
substrates. In the context of diversity and incessant change in a large
predominantly secular community, Judeo-Christian monotheism can have a
valuable advisory unifying function. Keywords: belief; biocultural
evolution; Ralph Wendell Burhoe; civilization; doubt; gene-culture
coevolution; intellectuals; memory; motivation; perception; personality;
progress; purpose; psychology; secularism; stories; survival; symbiosis;
theism.
Victor HoldingsISSN number 0591-2385 found a match in Victor holdings
The following campus(es) hold this title:
Zygon
Towson University
UMBC
University of Maryland, College Park
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