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Class Schedule
Cognitive Approaches to Religion
Religious Studies 202
University of Pennsylvania
Fall 2002
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This page presents an outline of discussion topics and assignments for every class during the semester. One some days, lecture notes are also given on the daily schedule pages: these are marked with the symbol . Since this class is run in a seminar format and students lead class most days, only a few classes have lecture notes posted. For detailed information on each day, click on the date below. For a complete list of discussion leaders and respondants for the semester, see the signup sheet. Last minute information about the course will be emailed to students as necessary, and also listed here: UPDATES. |
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Introduction |
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| September 9
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Introduction to Course
Introductory Lecture on Cognitive Science No Assignment (first day of class) |
| September 11
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Introduction to the Study of Religion
Bloch (online) and MIT Encyclopedia (2 articles) (online) |
| September 16 | Introduction to Traditional Psychology of Religion
Freud, The Future of an Illusion |
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Symbolism and Mental Representation |
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| September 18 | Symbols, Language, and Mechanism (1)
Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism, Ch. 1-3 Bulkpack |
| September 23 | Symbols, Language, and Mechanism (2)
Sperber, Rethinking Symbolism, Ch. 4-5 Bulkpack |
| September 25 | Responses to Sperber
Lawson and McCauley, Rethinking Religion and Toren (online) |
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Introduction to Representations |
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| September 30 | Collective Representations
Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method Bulkpack |
| October 2
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Epidemiology of Representations (1)
Sperber, two articles Bulkpack First Paper Due (paper details here) |
| October 7 | Epidemiology of Representations (2)
Sperber, two articles Bulkpack |
| October 9 | Epidemiology of Representations (3)
Sperber, two articles Bulkpack and (online) |
| October 14 | Response to Sperber
Whitehouse (online) |
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Cognitive Constraints on Religious Representations |
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| October 16 | Cognitive Constraints (1)
Boyer, Ch. 1 |
| October 21 | Cognitive Constraints (2)
Boyer, Ch. 2-3 |
| October 23 | Cognitive Constraints (3)
Boyer, Ch. 4 |
| October 28 | Cognitive Constraints (4)
Boyer, Ch. 5-6 |
| October 30 | Cognitive Constraints (5)
Boyer, Ch. 7 |
| November 4 | Cognitive Constraints (6)
Boyer, Ch. 8-9 |
| November 6 | Extensions of the Theory
Benavides (online) and Barrett (online) |
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Systems of Religious Representations |
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| November 11 | Syntactic Patterns in Religious Rituals
Staal (online) |
| November 13 | Logical Structure of Religious Systems (1)
Lawson-McCauley, Ch. 4 iv - 5 |
| November 18 | Logical Structure of Religious Systems (2)
Lawson-McCauley, Ch. 6-7 |
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Applications to Anthropological Fieldwork |
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| November 20 | Jain Ritual and Ritual Theory (1)
Humphrey-Laidlaw, Ch. 1-2 |
| November 25 |
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| November 27 |
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| December 2 | Jain Ritual and Ritual Theory (2)
Humphrey-Laidlaw, Ch. 3-4 Second Paper Due (paper details here) |
| December 4 | Jain Ritual and Ritual Theory (3)
Humphrey-Laidlaw, Ch. 5-6 |
| December 9 | Jain Ritual and Ritual Theory (4)
Humphrey-Laidlaw, Ch. 7-8, 12 |
| December 11 | Review Session to Discuss Final Paper and Big Picture of Course |
| December 16 | Final Paper Due (Monday during exam week) (paper details here) |