X-Message-Number: 22197
From: "mike99" <>
Subject: RE: msg #22192 Re: Freedom of Religion
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 15:41:39 -0600

...
> >[K. Henson] I strongly suggest that anyone who is interested in either
defending
> > against religion or making one up should get a copy of Pascal Boyer's
> > _Religion Explained_ and read it through a few times, maybe delve into
> > some
> > of the massive cites he provides.

David Stodolsky <> wrote:

> http://human-nature.com/nibbs/02/boyer.html
>
> This review suggests that reading this book is likely to be a waste of
> time.
>
> Boyer seem to be unaware of recent developments in anthropology and
> psychology. A better source:
>
> ernestbecker.org
>
> David S. Stodolsky    SpamTo: 


I beg to differ, David. First, you mischaracterized that review of Boyer's
book at the human-nature.com website. Rather than the reviewer claiming that
reading Boyer's book is a waste of time, he concludes by stating "Despite
its limitations, this book is a first-rate attempt to move the study of
religion in the direction desperately needed now more than ever."

That hardly seems like a dismissal of Boyer's work.

Second, I looked over the Ernest Becker website and found it, much more than
Boyer's book, deserving of being declared "a waste of time." It seems to me
that the Beckerians (the followers of the late(?) Dr. Becker who populate
his website and run the organization named for him) rather than Boyer, are
unaware of the most recent work in evolutionary psychology which Boyer
applies in his analysis. The "latest thinking" on the Becker site seems like
the same old neo-Freudian thinking that is today being undone by real
science. (Freud was a great writer but a lousy scientist.) I found that
little of the theorizing on Becker's website could not have been written in
1948 (e.g., the article by Brian Sullivan: Dr. Jerry Pivin on "Death
anxiety, psychoanalysis and creating illusions").

I consider Keith Henson's recommendation of Boyer's book to be highly
significant, since I have great respect for Keith's analytical prowess when
it comes to ev-psych and memetics. So I've gone out and bought a copy of
_Religion Explained_ and plan to read it as soon as time permits. I'll let
you know what I think after I'm done.


Regards,

Michael LaTorra




Member:
Extropy Institute: www.extropy.org
World Transhumanist Association: www.transhumanism.org
Alcor Life Extension Foundation: www.alcor.org
Society for Technical Communication: www.stc.org

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=22197