Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion | 誠品線上

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion

作者 E. Fuller Torrey
出版社 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
商品描述 Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion:ReligionsandmythologiesfromaroundtheworldteachthatGodorgodscreatedhumans.Atheist,human

內容簡介

內容簡介 Religions and mythologies from around the world teach that God or gods created humans. Atheist, humanist, and materialist critics, meanwhile, have attempted to turn theology on its head, claiming that religion is a human invention. In this book, E. Fuller Torrey draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to propose a startling answer to the ultimate question. Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods locates the origin of gods within the human brain, arguing that religious belief is a by-product of evolution. Based on an idea originally proposed by Charles Darwin, Torrey marshals evidence that the emergence of gods was an incidental consequence of several evolutionary factors. Using data ranging from ancient skulls and artifacts to brain imaging, primatology, and child development studies, this book traces how new cognitive abilities gave rise to new behaviors. For instance, autobiographical memory, the ability to project ourselves backward and forward in time, gave Homo sapiens a competitive advantage. However, it also led to comprehension of mortality, spurring belief in an alternative to death. Torrey details the neurobiological sequence that explains why the gods appeared when they did, connecting archaeological findings including clothing, art, farming, and urbanization to cognitive developments. This book does not dismiss belief but rather presents religious belief as an inevitable outcome of brain evolution. Providing clear and accessible explanations of evolutionary neuroscience, Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods will shed new light on the mechanics of our deepest mysteries.

作者介紹

作者介紹 E. Fuller Torrey is associate director for research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute and the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center. His books include The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths (1984); The Insanity Offense: How America's Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens (2008); Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual, 6th ed. (2013); and American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System (2013).

商品規格

書名 / Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion
作者 / E. Fuller Torrey
簡介 / Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion:ReligionsandmythologiesfromaroundtheworldteachthatGodorgodscreatedhumans.Atheist,human
出版社 / COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
ISBN13 / 9780231183376
ISBN10 / 0231183372
EAN / 9780231183376
誠品26碼 / 2681811567005
頁數 / 312
注音版 /
裝訂 / P:平裝
語言 / 3:英文
尺寸 / 23.1X16X2.8CM
級別 / N:無

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