THEO 420 - 002

Regular Academic Session

5720

Graduate

3 units

Graded

Cogntv & Evolutn Apprchs Relig

Outcomes: A deep level of understanding and of critical thinking with respect to the subject matter of the course.

Restricted to Graduate School students.

This course aims to understand why it is that virtually all known human societies have had some form of religion, this despite the fact that religious belief and practice serve no obvious practical function and indeed are costly in terms of time, material resources, and cognitive effort. From a cognitive scientific perspective we will ask what is it about the human mind that makes counterfactual beliefs in nonphysical agents (gods, spirits, demons, and the like) and some form of postmortem existence not only plausible but natural, even self-evident, for most people. From a cultural evolutionary perspective we will ask what vital functions religious beliefs and practices likely served in ancestral human societies, how religions acquired new functions as human societies underwent radical changes, and why it is that religion has persisted even in contemporary societies where a scientific worldview has established itself.

Hugh Nicholson

TuTh 2:30PM - 3:45PM

08/24/2026 - 12/12/2026

In person

Lake Shore Campus

Lake Shore Campus

Open

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23

23

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