Past Minds

Studies in Cognitive Historiography

Luther H Martin, Jesper Sørensen, Luther H Martin, Jesper Sørensen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781845537418
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315478357
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Religion
• Index: History

How do historians understand the minds, motivations, intentions of historical agents? What might evolutionary and cognitive theorizing contribute to this work? What is the relation between natural and cultural history? Historians have been intrigued by such questions ever since publication in 1859 of Darwin's The Origin of Species, itself the historicization of biology. This interest reemerged in the latter part of the twentieth century among a number of biologists, philosophers and historians, reinforced by the new interdisciplinary finding of cognitive scientists about the universal capacities of and constraints upon human minds. The studies in this volume, primarily by historians of religion, continue this discussion by focusing on historical examples of ancient religions as well as on the theoretical promises and problems relevant to that study.

Index

A

• Abelson, Robert P. 83
• action-representation system 125–126 see also representations, mental
• Adams, Richard E.W. 70
• adaptionism 3
  • Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness 184, 188 see also dual-inheritance theory; evolution; niches; psychology
• aesthetics 63, 65–66, 67, 71
• agency detection 82–83, 85, 102
  • experiment with children 94–95
  • magic and 146, 157–158 see also anthropomorphism; psychology; Theory of Mind
• Akerlof, George 14
• Allen, Garland E. 2
• Allen, Glover M. 70
• Alles, Gregory D. 57, 100
• Ambrosiaster Amundsen, Arne B. Anderson, Daniel R. 115n78, 82n30
• Anderson, Richard I. 84
• anthropology 18, 179–180, 191
  • medical 147 see also Evans-Pritchard, E.E.; Lévi-Strauss, Claude; Lévy-Bruhl, Lucien; Malinowski, Bronislaw; social science
• anthropomorphism 131–132, 136, 138 see also agency detection
• Appleton, Jay 63, 65–66
• Apuleius 126–129
• Aristotle 1
• Ashkenazi Jews see Jews; Judaism;
• Assurbanipal 48
• Assyro-Babylonian religion see Šamaš
• astrology 112–113, 117–118
• Astunica, Didacus 137...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Series
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• Minds and Ancient Civilizations
• Roman Minds
• Conclusion
• Index