Pascal Boyer

Gods, Spirits and the Mental Instincts that Create Them
Friday February 8 2002, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, Isla Vista Theater
Discussant: Francesca Bray, Anthropology
Discussant: Evan Thompson

AbstractBioEventVideoText
Abstract
A variety of mental instincts underpin the common features as well as important cultural variations in religion. Mental instincts are specific capacities of normal brains that unfold in normal environments, and were shaped by natural selection. Their workings are revealed by experimental evidence from psychology and neuro-science; their effects on culture are known to anthropologists and archaeologists. In this talk I will focus on a number of these instincts: our intuitive assumptions about agency (in self and others), about social relations, about morality, about misfortune, about contagion. Having these mental systems helps human beings solve many practical problems in dealing with others and with their natural environments; it also makes human minds receptive to a variety of cultural objects, including notions of supernatural beings.
Pascal Boyer studied philosophy in Paris and anthropology in Cambridge before teaching anthropology at King's College, Cambridge University. He has also held positions in Lyons and San Diego and was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in Stanford. He is now the Henry Luce Professor of Individual and Collective Memory at Washington University in St. Louis. His work combines anthropological fieldwork and psychological experiments, and aims to describe the psychological foundations of culture. His published works include Tradition as Truth and Communication (Cambridge, 1990), The Naturalness of Religious Ideas (Berkeley, 1994) and Religion Explained (Basic Books, 2001).

 

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Event
Pascal Boyer delivered his lecture in Isla Vista Theater on Friday evening. His address was followed by comments from two faculty members, a question-and-answer session, and a general reception. Below are some pictures from his visit.

Before his lecture, Pascal Boyer (left) chats with his colleagues Leda Cosmides (center, from UCSB Department of Psychology) and John Tooby (UCSB Department of Anthropology).
Jim Proctor, Director of UCSB Templeton Lectures Series, welcomes the crowd to Pascal Boyer's lecture.
Leda Cosmides introduces Pascal Boyer.
During his lecture, Pascal Boyer points emphatically to where cognitive processes are located.
Evan Thompson responds to Pascal Boyer's lecture.
Francesca Bray (UCSB Department of Anthropology) provides further comments on the lecture.
Pascal Boyer responds to a question from the audience, while Evan Thompson and Francesca Bray look on.
After the question and answer session, the engagement of the speakers continues.

 

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