Extended Mind and Religious Cognition

Religion: Mental Religion. Part of the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks: Religion Series (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The extended mind thesis claims that mental states need not be confined to the brain or even the biological borders of the subject. Philosophers and cognitive scientists have in recent years debated the plausibility of this thesis, growing an immense body of literature. Yet despite its many supporters, there have been relatively few attempts to apply the thesis to religious studies, particularly studies of religious cognition. In this essay, I indicate how various dimensions of religious cognition might be thought of as extended. In particular, I focus on the mutually-supporting relationship between religious cognition and material culture: the many things we use to organize and enact our religious practices and beliefs, from relics and rituals to songs and holy spaces. As we’ll see, taking the extended mind thesis seriously suggests that an investigation of religious material culture is, simultaneously, an investigation of religious cognition.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-02-28

Downloads
1,117 (#15,029)

6 months
107 (#52,944)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Joel Krueger
University of Exeter

Citations of this work

Extended emotions.Joel Krueger & Thomas Szanto - 2016 - Philosophy Compass 11 (12):863-878.
Varieties of the extended self.Richard Heersmink - 2020 - Consciousness and Cognition 85:103001.

View all 10 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

The extended mind.Andy Clark & David J. Chalmers - 1998 - Analysis 58 (1):7-19.
How the Body Shapes the Mind.Shaun Gallagher - 2005 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press UK.
Cognition in the Wild.Edwin Hutchins - 1998 - Mind 107 (426):486-492.
Varieties of extended emotions.Joel Krueger - 2014 - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 13 (4):533-555.

View all 25 references / Add more references