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Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Publication year:
2006
ISBN:
0-670-03472-X
Has read?
Yes
Table of Contents:
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Part I: Opening Pandora's Box
1 Breaking Which Spell?
1 What's going on?
2 A Working definition of religion
3 To break or not to break
4 Peering in the abyss
5 Religion as a natural phenomenon
2 Some Questions About Science
1 Can science study religion?
2 Should science study religion?
3 Might music be bad for you?
4 Would neglect be more benign?
3 Why Good Things Happen
1 Bringing out the best
2 Cui bono ?
3 Asking what pays for religion
4 A Martian's list of theories
Part II: The Evolution of Religion
4 The Roots of Religion
1 The births of religions
2 The raw materials of religion
3 How Nature deals with the problem of other minds
5 Religion, the Early Days
1 Too many agents: competition for rehearsal space
2 Gods as interested parties
3 Getting the gods to speak to us
4 Shamans as hypnotists
5 Memory-engineering devices in oral cultures
6 The Evolution of Stewardship
1 The music of religion
2 Folk religion as practical know-how
3 Creeping reflection and the birth of secrecy in religion
4 The domestication of religions
7 The Invention of Team Spirit
1 A path paved with good intentions
2 The ant colony and the corporation
3 The growth market in religion
4 A God you can talk to
8 Belief in Belief
1 You better believe it
2 God as intentional object
3 The division of doxastic labor
4 The lowest common denominator?
5 Beliefs designed to be professed
6 Lessons from Lebanon: the strange cases of the Druze and Kim Philby
7 Does God exist?
Part III: Religion Today
9 Toward a Buyer's Guide to Religions
1 For the love of God
2 The academic smoke screen
3 Why does it matter what you believe?
4 What can your religion do for you?
10 Morality and Religion
1 Does religion make us moral?
2 Is religion what gives meaning to your life?
3 What can we say about sacred values?
4 Bless my soul: spirituality and selfishness
11 Now What Do We Do?
1 Just a theory
2 Some avenues to explore: how can we home in on religious conviction?
3 What shall we tell the children?
4 Toxic memes
5 Patience and politics
Appendixes
A The New Replicators
B Some More Questions About Science
C The Bellboy and the Lady Named Tuck
D Kim Philby as a Real Case of Indeterminacy of Radical Interpretation
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