{"id":2280,"date":"2012-09-07T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2012-09-05T11:45:44","modified_gmt":"2012-09-05T09:45:44","slug":"language-and-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=2280","title":{"rendered":"Language and religion"},"content":{"rendered":"
Language and religion<\/strong>: A journey into the human mind. <\/strong>By William Downes<\/strong>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. vi, 280. ISBN 9780521792233<\/a>. $103 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Abby Forster<\/a><\/strong>, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee<\/em><\/p>\n

In this book, William Downes seeks to answer the question, \u2018What is religion in cognitive terms?\u2019 (3). D argues that only a cognitive pragmatic framework, in which language is studied as part of cognitive psychology, can address this key question. Drawing on cognitive psychology (including Chomskian linguistics), relevance theory, and Kantian rationalism, D presents a theory of language use which shows how culture emerges from mind\/brain systems. His theory, thus, offers an account of how religion emerges through the natural processes of the mind.<\/p>\n

In Ch. 1 (8\u201352), D outlines his cognitive theory of religion. Taking a Chomskian approach, the mind\/brain contains modules that are specialized for different domains. The modular mind\/brain has an innate architecture that provides a \u2018mode of construal of input\u2019 from which human cultures are built (13). Religion is a cultural ensemble that emerges as humans process information using the scaffolding provided by the mind\/brain\u2019s innate structures. Religion consists of four primary dimensions: the supernatural, religious normativity, rationalized contents, and religious affect and motivation. These dimensions align with specific modular systems of the brain.<\/p>\n

Ch. 2 (53\u2013108) is focused on the application of D\u2019s theory of cultural emergence to the element of the supernatural in world religions. The supernatural dimension must emerge in culture because the mind is governed by principles of relevance, and the mind-reading module of the brain understands all inputs as caused by some kind of mind. When the mind is an unknown, the idea of the supernatural fills the gap in embodied agency. The concept of God then represents all possibility and cannot, by definition, be comprehended (108). Language plays a central role in the cultural emergence of religion because it is through language that subconscious activity becomes conscious.<\/p>\n

In Ch. 3 (109\u201362), D explains how human minds represent and disseminate that which by definition cannot be understood. He suggests that religious mysteries are disseminated widely because they violate the intuitive beliefs provided by the mind\/brain scaffolding. In doing so, they are intellectually interesting and engage a sense of justice.<\/p>\n

Chs. 4\u20136 elaborate on other areas of the theory. In Ch. 4 (163\u201394), D focuses on the critical rationality of religious belief, arguing that the concept of God \u2018synthesizes all inconsistencies into a single simplicity; for example mercy and justice\u2019 (194). Ch. 5 (195\u2013226) expands on critical rationality by relating it to authority. The chapter discusses legitimacy and asks if religion could represent reality in a sense. Finally, Ch. 6 (227\u201363) addresses conceptual change and innovation, arguing that processes of innovation are inexhaustible and leave humanity to live in a state of philosophical uncertainty regarding its images of itself.<\/p>\n

D\u2019s work contributes to the relatively new area of the cognitive science of religion. His overarching argument that language makes thought conscious and, through that process, moral mysteries naturally emerge, offers a cognitive account of the connection between religion and language. The book may be of interest to scholars of the philosophy of language or religion, cognitive psychologists, and linguists specializing in religion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Language and religion: A journey into the human mind. By William Downes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Pp. vi, 280. ISBN 9780521792233. $103 (Hb). Reviewed by Abby Forster, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee In this book, William Downes seeks to answer the question, \u2018What is religion in cognitive terms?\u2019 (3). D argues that only a cognitive pragmatic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}