Pascal Boyer

Invited Researcher of DEA Programme Stay in France: from September 1st to October 31th, 2021

Pascal Boyer studied philosophy and anthropology at Paris and then Cambridge with Jack Goody. He has worked mostly on the cognitive capacities underling cultural transmission, and is the author of Religion explained (2001) and Minds Make Societies (2018). He teaches at Washington University in St. Louis, USA.

The project

Title: Cognitive Dynamics and the Diversity of Religions

Keywords: Psychology, Anthropology, Evolution

Selected publications

Boyer Pascal, “Why divination? Evolved psychology and strategic interaction in the production of truth”, in Current Anthropology, vol 61, n°1, 2020, p. 100-123. https://doi.org/10.1086/706879
Boyer Pascal, “Informal Religious Activity Outside Hegemonic Religions: Wild Traditions and Their Relevance to Evolutionary Models”, in Religion, Brain & Behavior, vol 10, n°4, 2020, pp. 459-472. https://doi.org/0.1080/2153599X.2019.1678518
Boyer Pascal, Minds Make Societies. How Cognition Explains the Worlds Humans Create, Yale University Press, 2018, 376 p.
Boyer Pascal, Religion Explained. The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought, Basic Books, 2001, 375 p.

Published at 15 December 2021