Souls, the Final Frontier: Human Intuitions of Mind in Star Trek
In this article, the author investigates the religiously resonant nature of aspects of certain narratives within the popular science fiction mythology of Star Trek as well as the implications of the religiosity implicit in that mythology. Drawing on literature from social and evolutionary psychology...
| Published in: | Journal of religion and popular culture |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2016]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Star trek
/ Soul
/ Conception
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality NBG Pneumatology; Holy Spirit |
| Further subjects: | B
Soul music
B James Kirk B Gene Roddenberry B Narrative B Philosophy of religion B Philosophy of mind B Popular Culture B psychology of religion B Star Trek B Science Fiction |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In this article, the author investigates the religiously resonant nature of aspects of certain narratives within the popular science fiction mythology of Star Trek as well as the implications of the religiosity implicit in that mythology. Drawing on literature from social and evolutionary psychology as well as popular culture studies, the author claims that various Star Trek series both explicitly and implicitly utilize the religiously resonant concept of the soul. The use of the soul as a narrative device relies on most humans' psychological tendencies toward essentialist thinking and offline social reasoning. The author argues that by narratively affirming the idea of souls, Star Trek narratives occasionally constitute religiously resonant fantasy as opposed to depicting a fully rationalist and non-religious human future, as some anti-religionists argue. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.28.2-3.3081 |