Lecture
A Review of Major Ideas in the Evolutionary Psychology of Religion
A lecture by Saeed Garmaroudi on major ideas in the evolutionary psychology of religion. In these two sessions, the main approaches of this field to explaining the origin and function of religion from an evolutionary perspective are examined.
About this video
In this two-session lecture, Saeed Garmaroudi reviews the major ideas in the evolutionary psychology of religion. This field, which has grown significantly in recent decades, attempts to explain religion not merely as a cultural or theological phenomenon, but as a product of evolutionary and psychological processes.
Garmaroudi, referring to recent discussions by Azarakhsh Mokri and Mehdi Nassaji, explains the main theories of this field and shows how concepts such as evolutionary adaptation, cognition, emotion, and mental structures are used to explain the emergence and persistence of religious beliefs. The discussion of the possible functions of religion, critiques and limitations of the evolutionary approach, and its relationship with other explanations are among the main themes of these sessions.
This lecture is an opportunity for those interested in the psychology of religion, scientific studies of religion, and the relationship between science and religion to become acquainted with the main lines of one of the most influential contemporary approaches to the phenomenon of religion and to find a new horizon for understanding the origin of religious beliefs.
