Towards a science of belief systems / Edmund Griffiths.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Griffiths, Edmund, 1979- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Belief and doubt.

Logic.

Superstition.

Physical Description:

ix, 190 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Summary:

People believe in a great many things: the New Age and the new atheism, astrology and the Juche Idea, the marginal utility theory and a God in three persons. Yet most of us know almost nothing about why other people believe the things they do-or indeed about how it feels to believe them. This book presents an objective method for understanding and comparing belief systems, irrespective of their subject matter and of whether or not the investigator happens to agree with them. The method, descriptive logic, is illustrated through analyses of various phenomena, including Zoroastrianism, Dawkinsism, Fabianism, 9/11 Truth, 'alternative' Egyptology, Gnosticism, flying saucer sightings, and the hymns of Charles Wesley. Special attention is given to beliefs that are not supposed to be wholly believed, and to how descriptive logic relates to the materialist conception of history. The book also outlines a new theory of superstition. Book jacket.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1137346361

9781137346360

OCLC:

892821818

Publisher Number:

99960263594