Call for Papers and Conference Announcement
An international conference organized by the Centre for Ethics and the Centre Pieter Gillis, University of Antwerp (Belgium)
May 31st – June 1st, 2018
Keynote speakers:
Helen De Cruz (Oxford Brookes University)
Deborah Kelemen (Boston University)
John Teehan (Hofstra University)
Roger Trigg (University of Oxford)
The aim of this conference is to offer a setting for discussion of issues related to the cognitive science of religion and its philosophical implications.
Slots are available for paper presentations and we welcome submissions on topics related but not limited to the following questions:
Why is religion such a widespread human experience? Are religious beliefs natural and what does ‘natural’ mean? What does CSR (cognitive science of religion) have to say about religious practice (as opposed to belief)? What kind of theistic beliefs and practices are natural (or not) and in which ways? Are religious beliefs directly produced by ‘normal’ human mental states and capacities, or are they produced indirectly, by other more basic human states and capacities? What do current studies in CSR imply for the truth or reasonableness of religious belief? Does CSR explain God away? Why and how is CSR pertinent for philosophy of religion? Why and how is philosophy pertinent for CSR? (and, relatedly, why are both pertinent at all?)
Please submit abstracts of maximum 500 words to Esther Kroeker: esther.kroeker@
Deadline for submission: January 31st, 2018