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A Critical Analysis of Cognitive Explanations of Afterlife Belief

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 2, 749 - 764, 15.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.18505/cuid.769807

Öz

Bilişsel Din Bilimi (CSR), dini inanç ve uygulamaların nedensel açıklamalarını sağlamayı amaçlayan din araştırmalarına bilimsel bir yaklaşımdır. CSR savunucuları, insan zihninin doğal özelliklerini ve nasıl işlediğini açıklayarak dini inançların oluşumu, kabulü, aktarımı ve yaygınlığı sürecini açıklamaya çalışırlar. Tüm insan kültürlerinde var olan ve son on yılda birçok CSR akademisyeninin dikkatini çeken dini inançlardan biri de öbür dünyaya olan inançtır. CSR araştırmacılarına göre, bu inanç, insan zihninin doğal yapılarına dayanmaktadır. Ölümden sonraki hayata olan inancı, zihinsel araçların işleyişinden kaynaklanan, yansıtıcı olmayan veya sezgisel bir inanç olarak görürler. Ölümden sonra hayata inancın oluşumunu, gelişimini, yayılmasını ve aktarılmasını açıklamak için çeşitli teoriler önerdiler. Ancak bu teoriler arasında, iki teori daha geniş kabul görmüştür, sezgisel düalizm teorisi ve simülasyon kısıtlama teorisi. Sezgisel düalizm teorisi, tüm insanların iki zihinsel araca sahip olduğunu söyler: Sezgisel Biyoloji ve Sezgisel Psikoloji. Sezgisel Biyoloji, ölü bir kişinin karşısına geçip hareket edemediği için artık hayatta olmadığına inanmamızı sağlar. Sezgisel Psikoloji, ölü kişiye otomatik olarak görünmez özellikleri (arzular, düşünceler, inançlar ve duygular gibi) atfetmeye devam eder. Yukarıdaki iki zihinsel aracın aynı anda işleyişi, insan zihnini ölü kişinin bir kısmının önemsiz olduğuna ve fiziksel ölümden sonra kaldığına inandırır. Simülasyon kısıtlama teorisi, tüm insanların çevreden gelen bilgileri işlemek ve dini inançlar edinmek için zihinsel araçlara sahip olduğunu söyler. Zihinsel araçların hiçbiri, kişinin arzularının, düşüncelerinin, inançlarının ve duygularının var olmadığını hayal edemez veya simüle edemez. Bu nedenle ölü kişinin karşısındaki insan zihni, fiziksel ölümünü kolayca hayal etmesine rağmen, kişinin başka bir bölümünün (düşünceler, arzular vb.) Varlığına inanmaya devam eder. Bu teorilerin her ikisi de, öbür dünyaya inancın oluşumunu açıklamada zorluklar ve sınırlamalarla karşı karşıya görünüyor. Bunlar arasında nedensel açıklama yapamama, ölümden sonraki hayata olan inancın doğal ve rasyonel temelleri arasındaki ayrım eksikliği ve öbür dünya inancının doğaüstü temellerini göz ardı etme yer alır. İki teoriden hiçbiri öbür dünyaya inancın oluşumu için yeterli nedensel açıklama sağlamıyor gibi görünmektedir. Her iki teori de zihinsel araçların nasıl işlediğine bağlı olarak öbür dünya inançlarının oluşumu hakkında olası bir hikaye sunmaya çalışır. Ölümden sonraki hayata inanmaya yol açan sürecin yalnızca makul bir hikayesini sunarlar. Bu iki teorinin sunduğu şey, insan zihninin ve araçlarının ve bunların nasıl işlediğinin bir açıklamasıdır (nedensel açıklama değil). Bu, kendi başına, bu aletlerin öbür dünyaya bir inanç ürettiğini açıklamaz. Dolayısıyla ahirete olan inancın zihinsel araçların işleyişinin bir sonucu olduğu iddiası, zihinsel araçlar ile bu inanç arasında nedensel bir ilişki gerektirir. Bu iki teoriden hiçbiri bu nedensel ilişkiyi açıklayamaz ve yalnızca aralarındaki ilişkinin makul bir hikayesini açıklarlar. Dahası, dini inancın rasyonel temelleri ile dini inancın doğal temelleri arasındaki ayrım, ahirete inanmak veya onunla ilişkili bilişsel mekanizmaları tanımlamak için doğal bir köken bulmanın hiçbir şekilde bu inancı reddetmek veya itibarını sarsmak anlamına gelmediğini göstermektedir. Ahirete olan inancın doğal kökenleri hakkındaki bilişsel teoriler bize bu inancın rasyonel mi irrasyonel mi olduğunu gösteremez. Bu açıklamalar ancak (eğer yapabilirlerse) bize bu inancın oluşumunun ve yaygınlığının doğal köklerini gösterebilir. Ayrıca Dinsel inanç karmaşık bir kavramdır. Birincisi, doğal bir kavramdır, bu anlamda insan doğasına dayanır ve insanın bilişsel sistemleri ve zihinsel araçlarıyla ilgilidir. İkincisi, kültürel ve sosyal bir kavramdır, bu anlamda hem kültürel ve sosyal değişimden etkilenir hem de onu etkiler. Üçüncüsü, doğaüstü bir kavramdır, bu anlamda hem vahiy hem de kehanet ve insanın maddi olmayan yönüyle derinden bağlantılıdır. Öbür dünyaya inanç, her üç düzeyde açıklamayı gerektiriyor gibi görünüyor.

Kaynakça

  • Rita Astuti. "Are we natural dualists? A cognitive developmental approach". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7 (2001), 429-447. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00071.
  • Rita Astuti – Harris Paul. "Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural Madagascar". Cognitive Science 32 (2008), 713-740. http://doi.org/10.1080/03640210802066907.
  • Barrett, Clark, Human cognitive adaptations to predators and prey, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Santa Barbara: University of California, 1999.
  • Barrett, Justin. Why would anyone believe in god? Plymoth: AltaMira Press, 2004.
  • Barrett, Justin. "Cognitive Science of Religion: What Is It and Why Is It?" Religion Compass 1/6 (2007), 768-786. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00042.x
  • Barrett, Justin. "Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology". Believing Primate. ed. Jeffrey Schloss. 76-99. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Barrett, Justin. Cognitive Science, Religion and Theology. USA: Templeton Press, 2011.
  • Bering, Jesse. "Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Agents Minds: The Natural Foundations of Afterlife Beliefs as Phenomenological Boundary". Journal of Cognition and Culture 2/4 (2002), 263-308. http://doi.org/ 10.1163/15685370260441008
  • Bering, Jesse - Bjorklund, David. "The Natural Emergence of Reasoning about the Afterlife as a Developmental Regularity". Developmental Psychology 40/2 (2004), 217-33. http://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217
  • Bering, Jesse et al. "Reasoning about dead agents reveals possible adaptive trends". Human Nature 16 (2005), 360-381. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1015-2
  • Bering, Jesse et al., "The development of afterlife beliefs in religiously and secularly schooled children", British Journal of Developmental Psychology 23/4 (2005), 587-607. http://doi.org/10.1348/026151005x36498
  • Bering, Jesse, " The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural: Belief in a deity or an afterlife could be an evolutionarily advantageous by-product of people's ability to reason about the minds of others", American Scientist 94/2 (2006), 142-149. http://doi.org/10.2307/27858739
  • Bloom, Paul. Descartes’ baby: How the science of child development explains what makes us human. London: Arrow Books, 2004.
  • Bloom, Paul. "Is God an accident?" The Atlantic Monthly (December 2005), https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/12/is-god-an-accident/304425
  • Bloom, Paul. "Religion is natural". Developmental Science 10 (2006), 147-151. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 7687.2007.00577.x
  • Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. New York: Basics Books, 2001.
  • Clark, Steve - Powell, Russell. "Religion as an Evolutionary Byproduct: A Critique of the Standard Model". British Journal Philosophy of Science 63 (2012), 457-486. http://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axr035
  • Cohen, Emma – Barrett, Justin. "When minds migrate: Conceptualizing spirit possession". Journal of Cognition and Culture 8 (2008), 23-48. https://doi.org/10.1163/156770908x289198
  • De Cruz, Helen. "Cognitive Science of Religion and the Study of Theological Concepts". Topoi 33/2 (2014), 487- 497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9168-9
  • Dennett, Daniel. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. New York: Viking Penguin, 2006.
  • Harris, Paul – Marta, Gimenez. "Children’s acceptance of conflicting testimony: the case of death". Journal of Cognition and Culture 5 (2005), 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568537054068606.
  • Henig, Robin. "Darwin's God". New York Times (4 March 2007), https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04evolution.t.html.
  • Hodge, Mitch. "On imagining the afterlife". Journal of Cognition and Culture 11 (2011), 367-389. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853711X591305
  • Hume, David. Natural History of Religion. Calif: Stanford University Press, 1965.
  • Lazar, Alice et al. "The development of the sub-concepts of death in young children: A short-term longitudinal study". Child Development 62 (1991), 1321–1333
  • Lim, Daniel. "Cognitive Science of Religion and Folk Theistic Belief". Zygon 51/4 (2016), 949-965
  • Murray, Michael. "Four Arguments that the Cognitive Psychology of Religion Undermines the Justification of Religious Belief". The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories and Critiques. ed. Joseph Bulbulia et. All. 393-98. Santa Margarita. CA: Collins Foundation Press, 2008
  • Nichols, Shaun. "Imagination and immortality: thinking of me". Synthese 159/2 (2007), 215-233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-007-9205-6
  • Nola, Robert. "Do Naturalistic Explanations of Religious Beliefs Debunk Religion?" A New Science of Religion, ed. Greg Dawes and James Mclaurin. 162-88. New York: Routledge, 2013
  • Powell, Russel - Clarke, Stive. "Religion as an Evolutionary Byproduct: A Critique of the Standard Model". British Journal Philosophy of Science 63 (2012), 457-486. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axr035
  • Pyszczynski, Tom et al. "Terrorism, Violence, and Hope for Peace: A Terror Management Perspective". Current Directions in Psychological Science 17/5 (2008), 318-322. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00598.x
  • Schloss, Jeffrey. "Introduction: Evolutionary Theories of Religion". Believing Primate. ed. Jeffrey Schloss. 1-25. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
  • Slaughter, Virginia et al., "Constructing a coherent theory: Children’s biological understanding of life and death". Children’s understanding of biology, health, and ethics. ed. Siegal. 71-96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511659881.005.
  • Vail, Kenneth et al. "A Terror Management Analysis of the Psychological Functions of Religion". Personality and Social Psychology Review 14/1 (2010), 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309351165
  • Van Slyke, James. "Challenging the By-Product Theory of Religion in the Cognitive Science of Religion". Theology and Science 8/2 (2010), 163-180

Ölüm Ötesi İnancının Bilişsel Açıklamalarının Eleştirel Bir Analizi

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 24 Sayı: 2, 749 - 764, 15.12.2020
https://doi.org/10.18505/cuid.769807

Öz

The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is a scientific approach to the study of religion that seeks to provide causal explanations of religious beliefs and practices. Proponents of CSR seek to explain the process of the formation, acceptance, transmission, and prevalence of religious beliefs by explaining the natural features of the human mind and how it functions. One of the religious beliefs that exists in all human cultures, and has attracted the attention of many CSR scholars in the last decade, is the belief in afterlife. According to CSR researchers, this belief is rooted in the natural structures of the human mind. They see the belief in life after death as a non-reflective or intuitive belief that results from the functioning of mental tools. They have proposed various theories to explain the formation, development, spread, and transmission of belief in life after death. But among these theories, two theories have been more widely accepted, intuitive dualism theory and simulation constraint theory. Intuitive dualism theory says that all humans have the two mental tools: Intuitive Biology and Intuitive Psychology. Intuitive Biology in the face of a dead person makes us believe that he is no longer alive because he cannot move and act. Intuitive Psychology continues to attribute invisible features (such as desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) to the dead person automatically. The simultaneous functioning of the above two mental tools makes the human mind believe that a part of the dead person is immaterial and remains after the physical death. Simulation constraint theory says that all humans have the mental tools to process information from the environment and acquire religious beliefs. None of the mental tools can imagine or simulate the nonexistence of one's desires, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Therefore, the human mind in the face of the dead person, although easily imagining his physical death, continues to believe in the existence of another part of the person (thoughts, desires, etc.). Both of these theories seem to face challenges and limitations in explaining the formation of belief in afterlife. These include inability to provide causal explanation, the lack of distinction between the natural and the rational foundations of belief in afterlife and disregarding the supernatural foundations of the afterlife belief. Neither of the two theories seems to provide a sufficient causal explanation for the formation of belief in the afterlife. Both theories attempt to present a possible story about the formation of afterlife beliefs based on how mental tools function. They provide only a reasonable story of the process that has led to the belief in afterlife. What these two theories offer is a description (not causal explanation) of the human mind and its tools and how they function. This in itself does not explain that these tools have produced a belief in the afterlife. Therefore, the claim that belief in the afterlife is the result of the functioning of mental tools requires a causal relationship between mental tools and this belief. Neither of these two theories can explain this causal relationship, and they merely describe a reasonable story of the relationship between them. Furthermore, distinction between rational foundations of religious belief and natural foundations of religious belief shows that finding a natural origin for believing in the afterlife or describing the cognitive mechanisms associated with it does not in any way mean rejecting or discrediting that belief. Cognitive theories about the natural origins of the belief in the afterlife cannot show us whether this belief is rational or irrational. These explanations can only (if they can) show us the natural roots of the formation and prevalence of this belief. Also Religious belief is a complex notion. Firstly, it is a natural notion, in that sense it is rooted in the human nature and is related to human cognitive systems and mental tools. Secondly, it is a cultural and social notion, in that sense it is both influenced by cultural and social change, and also affects it. Thirdly, it is a supernatural notion, in that sense it is deeply connected with both revelation and prophecy, and with the immaterial aspect of human. Belief in afterlife seems to require all three levels of explanation.

Kaynakça

  • Rita Astuti. "Are we natural dualists? A cognitive developmental approach". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 7 (2001), 429-447. http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.00071.
  • Rita Astuti – Harris Paul. "Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural Madagascar". Cognitive Science 32 (2008), 713-740. http://doi.org/10.1080/03640210802066907.
  • Barrett, Clark, Human cognitive adaptations to predators and prey, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Santa Barbara: University of California, 1999.
  • Barrett, Justin. Why would anyone believe in god? Plymoth: AltaMira Press, 2004.
  • Barrett, Justin. "Cognitive Science of Religion: What Is It and Why Is It?" Religion Compass 1/6 (2007), 768-786. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2007.00042.x
  • Barrett, Justin. "Cognitive Science, Religion, and Theology". Believing Primate. ed. Jeffrey Schloss. 76-99. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Barrett, Justin. Cognitive Science, Religion and Theology. USA: Templeton Press, 2011.
  • Bering, Jesse. "Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Agents Minds: The Natural Foundations of Afterlife Beliefs as Phenomenological Boundary". Journal of Cognition and Culture 2/4 (2002), 263-308. http://doi.org/ 10.1163/15685370260441008
  • Bering, Jesse - Bjorklund, David. "The Natural Emergence of Reasoning about the Afterlife as a Developmental Regularity". Developmental Psychology 40/2 (2004), 217-33. http://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217
  • Bering, Jesse et al. "Reasoning about dead agents reveals possible adaptive trends". Human Nature 16 (2005), 360-381. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1015-2
  • Bering, Jesse et al., "The development of afterlife beliefs in religiously and secularly schooled children", British Journal of Developmental Psychology 23/4 (2005), 587-607. http://doi.org/10.1348/026151005x36498
  • Bering, Jesse, " The Cognitive Psychology of Belief in the Supernatural: Belief in a deity or an afterlife could be an evolutionarily advantageous by-product of people's ability to reason about the minds of others", American Scientist 94/2 (2006), 142-149. http://doi.org/10.2307/27858739
  • Bloom, Paul. Descartes’ baby: How the science of child development explains what makes us human. London: Arrow Books, 2004.
  • Bloom, Paul. "Is God an accident?" The Atlantic Monthly (December 2005), https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/12/is-god-an-accident/304425
  • Bloom, Paul. "Religion is natural". Developmental Science 10 (2006), 147-151. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 7687.2007.00577.x
  • Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. New York: Basics Books, 2001.
  • Clark, Steve - Powell, Russell. "Religion as an Evolutionary Byproduct: A Critique of the Standard Model". British Journal Philosophy of Science 63 (2012), 457-486. http://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axr035
  • Cohen, Emma – Barrett, Justin. "When minds migrate: Conceptualizing spirit possession". Journal of Cognition and Culture 8 (2008), 23-48. https://doi.org/10.1163/156770908x289198
  • De Cruz, Helen. "Cognitive Science of Religion and the Study of Theological Concepts". Topoi 33/2 (2014), 487- 497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9168-9
  • Dennett, Daniel. Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. New York: Viking Penguin, 2006.
  • Harris, Paul – Marta, Gimenez. "Children’s acceptance of conflicting testimony: the case of death". Journal of Cognition and Culture 5 (2005), 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1163/1568537054068606.
  • Henig, Robin. "Darwin's God". New York Times (4 March 2007), https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/magazine/04evolution.t.html.
  • Hodge, Mitch. "On imagining the afterlife". Journal of Cognition and Culture 11 (2011), 367-389. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853711X591305
  • Hume, David. Natural History of Religion. Calif: Stanford University Press, 1965.
  • Lazar, Alice et al. "The development of the sub-concepts of death in young children: A short-term longitudinal study". Child Development 62 (1991), 1321–1333
  • Lim, Daniel. "Cognitive Science of Religion and Folk Theistic Belief". Zygon 51/4 (2016), 949-965
  • Murray, Michael. "Four Arguments that the Cognitive Psychology of Religion Undermines the Justification of Religious Belief". The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories and Critiques. ed. Joseph Bulbulia et. All. 393-98. Santa Margarita. CA: Collins Foundation Press, 2008
  • Nichols, Shaun. "Imagination and immortality: thinking of me". Synthese 159/2 (2007), 215-233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-007-9205-6
  • Nola, Robert. "Do Naturalistic Explanations of Religious Beliefs Debunk Religion?" A New Science of Religion, ed. Greg Dawes and James Mclaurin. 162-88. New York: Routledge, 2013
  • Powell, Russel - Clarke, Stive. "Religion as an Evolutionary Byproduct: A Critique of the Standard Model". British Journal Philosophy of Science 63 (2012), 457-486. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjps/axr035
  • Pyszczynski, Tom et al. "Terrorism, Violence, and Hope for Peace: A Terror Management Perspective". Current Directions in Psychological Science 17/5 (2008), 318-322. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00598.x
  • Schloss, Jeffrey. "Introduction: Evolutionary Theories of Religion". Believing Primate. ed. Jeffrey Schloss. 1-25. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
  • Slaughter, Virginia et al., "Constructing a coherent theory: Children’s biological understanding of life and death". Children’s understanding of biology, health, and ethics. ed. Siegal. 71-96. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511659881.005.
  • Vail, Kenneth et al. "A Terror Management Analysis of the Psychological Functions of Religion". Personality and Social Psychology Review 14/1 (2010), 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309351165
  • Van Slyke, James. "Challenging the By-Product Theory of Religion in the Cognitive Science of Religion". Theology and Science 8/2 (2010), 163-180
Toplam 35 adet kaynakça vardır.

Ayrıntılar

Birincil Dil İngilizce
Konular Din Araştırmaları
Bölüm Araştırma Makaleleri
Yazarlar

Mahdi Biabanaki 0000-0002-0541-2958

Yayımlanma Tarihi 15 Aralık 2020
Gönderilme Tarihi 15 Temmuz 2020
Yayımlandığı Sayı Yıl 2020Cilt: 24 Sayı: 2

Kaynak Göster

ISNAD Biabanaki, Mahdi. “Ölüm Ötesi İnancının Bilişsel Açıklamalarının Eleştirel Bir Analizi”. Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi 24/2 (Aralık 2020), 749-764. https://doi.org/10.18505/cuid.769807.

Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.