Uniwersalia religijne a procesy poznawcze

Abstract

Sławomir Sztajer – RELIGIOUS UNIVERSALS AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES The aim of this article is to answer the question whether there are any invariant and essential elements in religion. In spite of the fact that religious phenomena are highly differentiated and liable to historical change, it is possible to distinguish non-cultural, universal aspects of these phenome-na. I point out that these aspects are a result of the evolved architecture of the human mind which is common to all human beings. In arguing for this thesis, I refer to the cognitive science of religion which attempts to explain religious phenomena on the basis of underlying cognitive mechanisms. At the same time, the fact that religion is determined by particular cognitive mechanisms places reli-gion among cultural universals. The cognitive approach to religion explains why religious phenomena are ubiquitous, i.e. why they are found in all known cultures. It also enables to answer the question concerning the fate of religion, its origin and its future.