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RELIGION IS EASY, BUT SCIENCE IS HARD … UNDERSTANDING McCAULEY'S THESIS
Author(s) -
Van Slyke James A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/zygo.12113
Subject(s) - cognitive science of religion , unconscious mind , cognition , natural (archaeology) , epistemology , cognitive science , focus (optics) , psychology , natural science , sociology , sociology of scientific knowledge , philosophy , physics , archaeology , neuroscience , optics , history
Robert N. McCauley's new book Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not (2011) presents a new paradigm for investigating the relationship between science and religion by exploring the cognitive foundations of religious belief and scientific knowledge. McCauley's contention is that many of the differences and disagreements regarding religion and science are the product of distinct features of human cognition that process these two domains of knowledge very differently. McCauley's thesis provides valuable insights into this relationship while not necessarily leading to a dismissive view of theology or religious belief. His paradigm allows the research lens to focus on cognitive differences in processing scientific versus religious information and the important role of automatic, unconscious, and intuitive cognitive processes in understanding both the natural and supernatural worlds.