•  6
    The Case for Spirit Realism: A Reply to Fales
    International Journal for the Study of Skepticism. forthcoming.
    In this article, I respond to some criticisms raised in Evan Fales’ review of my book The Epistemology of Spirit Beliefs that was published in this journal. The points I will address are the following: (i) Fales’ complaint about unclarity in my epistemological position, (ii) his complaint about my insufficient presentation of alternative explanations, and (iii) his complaint about my use of the terms ‘naturalism’ and ‘naturalistic explanation’.
  •  20
    Cognitive Science of Religion is still a rather young discipline. Depending on what one deems to be the first paper or book in the field, the discipline is now almost forty or almost thirty years old. Philosophical and theological discussion on CSR started in the late 2000s. From its onset, the main focus has been the epistemic consequences of CSR, and this focus is dominant even today. Some of those involved in the debate discussed the relevance of CSR for further issues in philosophy of religi…Read more
  •  9
    An Epistemic Defense of Animism
    In Tiddy Smith (ed.), Animism and Philosophy of Religion, Springer Verlag. pp. 285-312. 2022.
    Contrary to theistic belief, the epistemic status of animistic belief is rarely discussed in contemporary philosophy of religion. I argue that animistic experiences can provide personal justification to subjects in the absence of defeating counterevidence. I also argue that recent, scientific attempts at explaining animistic experiences do not provide such counterevidence. Finally, I investigate if animistic belief can be justified on moral grounds.
  •  7
    This book assesses whether religious epistemology can be expanded to argue for the justification of belief in spirits. It focuses specifically on experiences of spirits, animistic beliefs and belief in possession. Most work in philosophy of religion exclusively deals with the existence of God or the epistemic status of belief in God. Spirit beliefs are often regarded as aberrations, and the falsity of such beliefs is often assumed. This book argues that various beliefs concerning spirits can be …Read more
  •  15
    Responding to Debunking Arguments
    Philosophia Reformata 87 (2): 195-207. 2022.
    In this response article, I argue that Launonen’s criticisms either are beyond the scope of my argument in chapter 5 of Arguing from Cognitive Science of Religion or wrongfully presume that evolutionary explanations exhaustively explain religious beliefs. I also criticize Launonen’s claim that arguments in terms of divine design are preferable to arguments in terms of truth-tracking cognitive mechanisms.
  •  5
    This unique and pioneering book critically appraises current work from both the cognitive science of religion and the evolutionary study of religion. It addresses the question: Why does the believer possess supernatural or religious beliefs in the combined context of his cognitive biases, their adaptive usefulness measured in terms of survival and reproduction, and the impact of social learning and cultural traits? The authors outlines a pluralistic approach to the study of religion that does no…Read more
  •  15
    Kelly James Clark, God and the Brain: The Rationality of Belief
    Philosophia Reformata 86 (1): 1-5. 2020.
  •  13
    It is widely thought that the cognitive science of religion may have a bearing on the epistemic status of religious beliefs and on other topics in philosophy of religion. Epistemologists have used theories from CSR to argue both for and against the rationality of religious beliefs, or they have claimed that CSR is neutral vis-à-vis the epistemic status of religious belief. However, since CSR is a rapidly evolving discipline, a great deal of earlier research on the topic has become dated. Further…Read more
  •  65
    The Retreat Argument
    Heythrop Journal (3): 497-508. 2018.
    Some philosophers and scientists argue that as science progresses the religious domain shrinks ever more. They see the advance of science as an argument against religion and for naturalism. In what follows I construct the argument that is tacit in this line of reasoning and criticize it.
  •  21
    I review the book “Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after Twenty-Five Years.” I discuss all the papers in the book and highlight some recurrent issues.
  •  895
    Most Peers Don’t Believe It, Hence It Is Probably False
    European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 9 (4): 87-112. 2017.
    Rob Lovering has recently argued that since theists have been unable, by means of philosophical arguments, to convince 85 percent of professional philosophers that God exists, at least one of their defining beliefs must be either false or meaningless. This paper is a critical examination of his argument. First we present Lovering’s argument and point out its salient features. Next we explain why the argument’s conclusion is entirely acceptable for theists, even if, as we show, there are multiple…Read more
  •  212
    What Cognitive Science of Religion Can Learn from John Dewey
    Contemporary Pragmatism 15 (3): 387-406. 2018.
    Cognitive science of religion is a fairly young discipline with the aim of studying the cognitive basis of religious belief. Despite the great variation in theories a number of common features can be distilled and most theories can be situated in the cognitivist and modular paradigm. In this paper, I investigate how cognitive science of religion (CSR) can be made better by insights from John Dewey. I chose Dewey because he offered important insights in cognition long before there was cognitive s…Read more