Maurice Bloch: religion is a consequence of imagination


	Maurice Bloch: religion is a consequence of imagination

enbar

5-6-2008 12:28 AM

402 views

tags:

religion, social_science, anthropology, research, theory, !toread, post:facebook(clip)

enbar says:

Maurice Bloch produces what sounds on first glance like a neo-Durkheimian theory of religion with a foundation in cognitive psychology. I need to look more closely at this.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color:#cccccc;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/cb0ca551-3902-4059-9c09-2fb904a8a51b/243835D9-1237-4BE3-B2E8-7698D0C1E399/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/8912BC53-93BD-482D-A754-3B113E49AF27" alt="NewScientist.com" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><H2 class="inline">Religion a figment of human imagination</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">
00:01 28 April 2008
</LI></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><P>Humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved imagination.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><P>That's the argument of anthropologist <A target="ns" href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/m.e.bloch@lse.ac.uk/">Maurice Bloch</A> of the London School of Economics. Bloch challenges the popular notion that <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18925361.100-belief-special-how-evolution-found-god.html">religion evolved and spread</A> because it promoted social bonding, as has been argued by some anthropologists.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><P>Instead, he argues that first, we had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow <A href="http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19225780.075-the-big-questions-what-happens-after-you-die.html">live on after they've died</A>.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/DF4308BF-95FA-4A11-BB46-189DAEC08A2B" alt="(Image: stock.xchng)" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13782-religion-a-figment-of-human-imagination.html"><P>Once we'd done that, we had access to a form of social interaction unavailable to any other creatures on the planet. Uniquely, humans could use what Bloch calls the "transcendental social" to unify with groups, such as nations and clans, or even with imaginary groups such as the dead. The transcendental social also allows humans to follow the idealised codes of conduct associated with religion.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/243835D9-1237-4BE3-B2E8-7698D0C1E399/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>