Beyond Residuals: Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of Religion
We argue that while the statistical brain hypothesis offers a valuable framework for understanding religious belief, its explanatory power is limited if it focuses solely on epistemic motives. Rigoli and Lennon propose that religious beliefs emerge as an attempt to explain residual errors – discrepa...
| Subtitles: | Statistical Inference Theory of Religion |
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| Authors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
The international journal for the psychology of religion
Year: 2025, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 113-118 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | We argue that while the statistical brain hypothesis offers a valuable framework for understanding religious belief, its explanatory power is limited if it focuses solely on epistemic motives. Rigoli and Lennon propose that religious beliefs emerge as an attempt to explain residual errors – discrepancies between predictions and observations – by attributing them to supernatural agents. While we acknowledge the strengths of this approach, we contend that a comprehensive account of religion must go beyond belief formation and incorporate the emotional, intersubjective, and cultural dimensions that shape religious life. Although a broader interpretation of epistemic processes could encompass these elements, the paper by Rigoli and Lennon does not fully explore their significance. By integrating a perspective that includes the role of rituals, embodied practices, and existential meaning, we suggest that the statistical brain hypothesis can be expanded into a more robust framework, capable of capturing the full complexity of religious cognition and experience. |
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| ISSN: | 1532-7582 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal for the psychology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/10508619.2025.2507555 |
