Publication details
Imagining Religion in the Czech Republic: Anthropological Perspectives
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Monograph |
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| Description | The book Imagining Religion in the Czech Republic: Anthropological Perspectives is divided into two parts. Part one is a theoretical treatise examining the notion of human universals in social sciences, particularly in the fields of cultural anthropology, psychology and linguistics, connecting them to the domain of cognitive sciences. The idea of universal features of human thought re-emerges in social sciences throughout their history. This part of the book is focused on the issue of examining the processes of conceptualisation, categorisation and classification from the perspective of social and psychological sciences. It provides insights into the divide between “culture” and “nature” in cultural anthropology and related disciplines, as well as insights into the issue of Cartesian dualism of body and mind. As this book shows, what we conceive of as “cultural” and “natural” is mutually interdependent. Last chapters of part one deal with the topics of conceptualising, classifying and categorising human kinds and identities, as well as with the concept of psychological essentialism. These chapters focus on conceiving religiously interpreted identities from the perspective of social sciences in general and of science of religions in particular. The second part of the book examines religiosity in modern Czech society. The main idea here is that contemporary Czech religiosity or lack thereof has been interpreted narrowly from the perspective of socially and culturally conceptualized factors. Other possible factors have been neglected – for example neuropsychological or cognitive psychological aspects, which can influence conceptualisation of religiously interpreted identities in Czech society. This localised societal conceptualization is then examined in relation to the “World Religions Paradigm”, a classificatory schema that usually comprises the broad religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. As shown by analysis of local framework educational curricula (Framework Programmes) for elementary and secondary education, the World Religions Paradigm underpins teaching about religions in Czech education. This paradigm, composed of reified concepts of religious traditions, provides a basis for essentialised conceptualisation of religiously interpreted identities. This means that not only scholarly research of Czech religiosity, but also the education on religion in Czech education system do not take into account the cognitive perspectives on the operation of conceptualisation, categorisation and classification. This book attempts to provide an impetus to broaden our perspective in researching and teaching about religion in Czech society in particular and in contemporary society in general. Concepts, categories and classifications are neither as self-evident as they may seem, nor are they purely socio-cultural constructs without the influence of “biological” factors. This shows that it is essential to take into account the latest findings of cognitive sciences and evolutionary psychology when researching religions in modern society. |