Goodness, but all this thinking is taxing! I do like that Barrett frequently repeats what he has said -- a courtesy to those like me who are really trying, but find it tough going.
He is especially good at summarizing chapters. Here are some good places to review:
Chapter 1 -- Barrett reviews this on page 16, the section, "Why Do We Believe?" He even starts out with, To summarize . . . I like that! In that chapter we have heard about nonreflective beliefs, and reflective beliefs. Cognitive scientists theorize that we (all people) have certain "tools" -- inborn? learned? -- that allow us to hold beliefs about the world around us. The nonreflective tools react immediately, without thinking, so to speak, and make assessments about the world. We will go with those instant beliefs -- we could call them intuitive beliefs -- unless there is good reason not to -- if upon reflection, given evidence and reasons, we disbelieve those initial beliefs.
Chapter 2 -- Barrett starts applying these tools of the mind to our beliefs about gods -- supernatural "agents" be they ghosts or gods or dead uncle Ned who keeps bothering us. If they are to be believable, they must be "minimally counterintuitive" -- MCI. They can't be way crazy -- counter to those tools of the mind so wildly that no one would believe. But a little off, surprising -- enough to catch our attention, and remember. Barrett summarizes on page 30 -- Taking Stock So Far. Thank you, Justin.
Chapter 3 -- The origins of beliefs in gods -- ADD, no . . . HADD. Barrett says that one of the tools of the mind -- the Agency Detection Device -- is especially important in religious beliefs. We like to find "agents" around us . . . in fact we LOVE to find them, and so use the Hyperactive Agency Detection Device, finding agents even in places where they aren't. That great phrase "to summarize" pops up again the middle of page 33, reviewing HADD.
Once we have, using HADD, detected an agent, another tool, Theory of Mind (ToM) kicks in, attributing to that agent abilities like purpose, feeling.
On page 43 we learn that women are better at HADD than men (autism is sometimes called an extreme form of "male brainedness"); and even men get better at HADD as we get older!
The section on 43 -- The Spreading Beliefs in Gods -- summarized Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 -- A Grand Summary begins this chapter on page 45. Barrett goes on now to explore how those nonreflective tools contribute to religious belief, especially in gods with "counterintuitive physical properties." That is, they are agents, but can't be seen.
There is a section about the gods and morality -- "People the world over seem to have massively overlapping senses of what constitutes moral behavior." (47) Barrett takes issue with the theory that religions invented morality and forced it on the world. No, morality arose first, followed by religions. (C.S. Lewis, by the way, in Mere Christianity uses this existence of morality within humankind as evidence for God.) There is an interesting section on Fortune and Misfortune, and how people have connected those with morality and the gods -- pp 51 and 52.
"As with everything else in life, we automatically, often non-consciously, look for an explanation of why things happen to us [especially if a bad thing has happened to me!], and "stuff just happens" is no explanation. Gods, by virtue of their strange physical properties and their mysterious superpowers, make fine candidates for causes of many of these unusual events."
The section on Death is fascinating too. Barrett makes a good case (so I think) that the reality of death in humankind's experience practically forces us, given those intuitive tools of the mind, to postulate a life after death, a continuation not of a body (that is obviously dead, really) but of the mind, the soul. The last sentence of 59 is important: " . . .the sorts of minds we have require little peculiar inputs from the environment in order to rapidly move us toward belief in gods and full-blown religion."
Chapter 5 -- Barrett obligingly begins by reviewing the main points so far. He wants to argue that religious belief springs quite naturally from our mental "tools" -- that with or without a religious structure people would "belive." But of course we DO have many religious forms -- ceremony, ritual -- that support and encourage religious faith.
There is some provocative information on how religion appeals to people -- the use of cognitive dissonance (p. 62), inoculation, and especially ceremonies and rituals.
One thing that caught my eye, p. 69 -- the power of proclamation. "When people hear similar claims repeatedly, even though they receive no evidence or proper justification for the claim, they tend to believe the claim." Political people have known this for a very long time!
Also a very interesting section on prayer -- and religion's use of "conceptual control." (p. 70) Great sentence on 71 - The rituals of Christianity and Islam typically do not try to address practical problems, such as bringing rain, ensuring fertility, or healing sickness. Certain forms of Christianity do -- one thinks of Pentecostalism that is flourishing in South America -- with apparently good success.
Chapter 6 -- The Naturalness of Belief in God. Some fascinating research with regard to children and their beliefs. Page 79 -- a key concept, the result of their research, is that children appeared to be theologically accurate from the first and did not lose this ability.
Barrett then has sections on the key attributes of God -- Superperceiving, Immortal, Superpowerful, Creator, and (maybe) Super Goodness.
AND THEN . . . a great summary of it all, page 90 . . . A Progress Report! This is a quick and easy review of his key arguments -- enjoy!
Thanks, Ralph, for the summary. Very helpful.
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