Understanding the Magical and Religious Mind

Autorentext

Frederic Peters is an Honorary Associate at the University of New England, Australia. He previously held the position of Research Fellow within their Psychology Department.

Klappentext

This book uncovers the psychological basis of magico religious beliefs and the kind of world they create for believers, arguing against the common view that religious beliefs and practices exist mainly to strengthen social cohesion.

Instead, Frederic Peters shows that religion and magic arise naturally from the human mind, which uses two cognitive systems: an older, intuitive "primary" system and a newer, analytical one. The primary system works in a way that can be described as magico-religious as it handles everyday problems through instinct, imagination, and symbolic thinking. Peters argues that this mindset creates many core religious and magical ideas: seeing the world as full of supernatural beings and forces; believing rituals can influence these powers; accepting myths as explanations for how the world works; believing in an inner soul; assuming thoughts can directly cause events; and believing that sacrifices or offerings can obligate the gods to respond.

The Magico-Religious Mind offers the first clear account of how magic and religion come from a specific information processing module in the mind. Ultimately, Peters argues that Religion is universal because it comes naturally from human psychology and that as a result, religion and magic are unlikely to disappear from society.

Inhalt

1. The Prelogical Mind
2. Dual Processing and the Cognitive Basis of Religion
3. The Family of S1 Magico-Religious Beliefs Based on S1 Primary
   Processing
4. Implications of Dual Processing: Religion is Natural and Universal
5. Implications of Dual Processing: Origin of Religion and Early Forms
   of Religion
6. Implications of Dual Processing: The Sacred Singularity
7. The Singular, Demon-Filled Magico-Religious Life World is Hell, and
   the Consequent Search for Solutions
8. Conclusion to the Magico-Religious Mind
   Notes
   References
   Appendices
   Index