PT Journal
AU Wiebe, D
TI The Deep History of the Scientific Study of Religious Thought and Behaviour
SO e-rhizome
PY 2021
BP 1
EP 20
VL 3
IS 1
DI 10.5507/rh.2021.001
DE Cognitive capacities; Modes of thought; Disinterested knowledge; Reason; Science;
AB This article provides a brief overview of the literature on transitions in modes of thought in the evolutionary development of our non-human and pre-historic human forebears. I will argue that this evolutionary history can account for the cognitive foundations underlying modern scientific modes of thought-dedicated to achieving 'disinterested' knowledge for its own sake-although not the actual historical emergence of the sciences. Essential to this task is understanding the continuities and discontinuities between human thought and that of our primate ancestors-the transitions in the cognitive capacities required for dealing with the physical environment-and the transformations essential for dealing with the increasing social complexities of our pre-historic human ancestors.
ER