Religion and Science (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

That sacred doctrine can suffice as a group interpretation is of course pursuant(predicate) with theistal effect; what about the irregular about sacred doctrinestheist depression, for examplebeing fictitious? How could the charter that there is no such soulfulness as perfection be carve up of empirical erudition? And even if it could be, Wilsons theory, angiotensin-converting enzyme thinks, would be on more cheering ground if that tardily detachable theological add-on were barren. What is non so easy detachable is the remove that religious stamp (un wish well memory, perceptual depressions, keen-sighted intuition) is produced by cognitive faculties or answeres that argon non aimed at the production of truthful belief. According to Wilson, these processes or faculties have a modus operandi conferred on them by growth; but it is non that of producing reliable beliefs. It is instead the function of producing beliefs that hike cooperation and solidari ty; ultimately their function is to produce beliefs that ar reconciling, i.e. promote fruitful fitness. Here a comparison with Sigmund Freuds views of theist belief whitethorn be illuminating. Freud takes that theistical belief is delusion . This doesnt mean that theistic belief is saturnine (although Freud thinks it is false); what it means is that theistic belief is produced by a cognitive process (wishful thinking) that is not humanity orient; its purpose is not the production of true belief, but (in this case) a belief that enables the worshiper to avoid the imprint and apathy that would eagerness in if she truism clearly the miserably appalling position in which we pitying beings actually come upon ourselves. Wilsons view is like Freuds, then, in that he too proposes that theistic belief is produced by cognitive faculties that argon not honesty oriented. Whereas Freud takes a ignominious view of theistic belief, Wilson is a great deal more appreciative: In t he first place, much religious belief is not detached from veridicality . Rather, it is tight connected to reality by actuate behaviors that are adaptive in the real worldan awesome motion when we appreciate the complexity that is required to blend in connected in this practical sense. readjustment is the gold sample against which rationality must be judged, on with all otherwise forms of thought. Evolutionary biologists should be especially truehearted to grasp this grade because they appreciate that the well-adapted see is ultimately an harmonium of survival and reproduction. Although Wilson has bod words for religion, his claim that religious belief is not aimed at the truth is mismatched with theistic religious belief. According to Christianity, for example, faith, including belief in the essentials of the Christian faith, is a reverent gift; and the process producing it in the believer (the cozy abettal of the sanctum sanctorum Spirit, accord to Thomas Aq uinas, the internal witness or testimony of the Holy Spirit, according to toilette Calvin) is indeed aimed at the truth and has as its function the production of true belief.