Kognitiivne usundilugu

Abstract

The article is concerned with a scientific approach which emerged in the 1990s and uses scientific results in psychology, linguistics, neurology and other sciences for studying religious convictions and behaviour. Cultural anthropology tends to explain religious beliefs through «cultural context», but this has often proved insufficient: beliefs also reflect the essence of human perception. The spectrum of religious ideas not unlimited as the ideas are based on human cognitive structures. The author makes a reference to Boyer by categorising the forms of perception into «intuitive» and «counterintuitive». Pyysiäinen concludes that specifically religious cognitive mechanisms do not exist. Religious reasoning and behaviour can be explained without reference to God's revelation. By that the author does not claim that «revealed» perception does not exist, but that it cannot be distinguished from «natural» perception.