Pascal Boyer

Pascal Boyer (fl. c. 2000) is an anthropologist who advocates the idea that human instincts provide us with the basis for an intuitive theory of mind that guides our social relations, morality, and s toward religious beliefs. Boyer and others propose that these innate mental systems make human beings predisposed to certain cultural elements such as belief in supernatural beings.

Boyer has held teaching and research positions at several universities. He is currently Henry Luce Professor of Individual and Collective Memory at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

ee also

* Evolutionary origin of religions
* Evolutionary epistemology
* Evolutionary psychology
* The Mickey Mouse Problem
* Faith and rationality
* Relationship between religion and science
* Cognitive science of religion
* Evolutionary psychology of religion

Notes & References

Books

*"Tradition as Truth and Communication" (1992) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*"The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion" (1994) Berkeley: University of California Press.
*"Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought" (2002) Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00696-5.
* [http://www.protoporia.gr/product_info.php/products_id/308148 Greek Translation] by Dimitris Xygalatas and Nikolas Roubekas ISBN: 9789602882252.

Links

* [http://artsci.wustl.edu/~pboyer/PBoyerHomeSite/index.html Official home page]
* [http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/%7Eanthro/blurb/b_boyer.html Faculty page at Washington University]