The Evolution of the Human Mind: From Supernaturalism to Naturalism - an Anthropological Perspective

by Carneiro, Robert L.

• ISBN13: 9780979773129
• ISBN10: 0979773121
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-23
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

This is the first single book to document the evolution in human thinking from a belief in supernaturalism to a belief in naturalism. The author shows how the ideas that people have held through the centuries about the world have developed from human experience - particularly during the last four hundred years - to the point today where, for the first time in human history, we see scientists in whom a belief in naturalism is complete and all-encompassing. As a philosopher of science, the author is concerned not so much with the ideas of particular individuals as he is with a system of ideas; as a cultural anthropologist, he is primarily interested in culture as the product of human thought.

Author Biography

Robert L. Carneiro has been curator of anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History for more than fifty years. His ethnographic fieldwork has been with Amazonian tribes. His other scientific research has focused on social evolution, especially on the origin of the state.

Table of Contents

The Emergence of the Supernatural	p. 1
The Spirit World Elaborates	p. 19
Origin Myths: Accounting for Things as They Are	p. 33
The Life of the Soul After Death	p. 55
The Later History of Soul Beliefs	p. 69
The Birth and Evolution of the Gods	p. 85
The Rise of Scientific Thinking	p. 107
The Impact of the Physical Sciences	p. 123
The Attenuation of the Concept of God	p. 139
The Rise and Demise of Idealist Philosophy	p. 153
The Expansion of Naturalism	p. 169
The Coming of Evolution	p. 193
The Impact of Evolution	p. 215
The Religious Views of Charles Darwin	p. 229
The Twin Specters of Atheism and Materialism	p. 241
Vitalism versus Mechanism in the Interpretation of Life	p. 271
Accounting for the Origin of Life	p. 295
Evolution and Emergence	p. 305
The Diminishing Role of God in History	p. 313
Free Will versus Determinism	p. 321
The Doctrine of the Two Magesteria	p. 339
The Scientists Speak Up: The Theists	p. 349
The Scientists Speak Up: The Non-Theists	p. 361
Trends in Belief to the End of the Nineteenth Century	p. 375
Secularism and Religion Continue to Compete	p. 385
Current Status and Future Prospects	p. 411
References	p. 425
Index	p. 459
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.