Rethinking Lawson and McCauley: The return of beliefs into Ritual Form Hypothesis
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RIS BIB ENDNOTEData publikacji: 01.12.2025
Studia Religiologica, 2025, Tom 58, Numer 1, s. 1-22
https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.25.001.22145Autorzy
Rethinking Lawson and McCauley: The return of beliefs into Ritual Form Hypothesis
This article presents a critical revision of Lawson and McCauley’s theory of ritual forms as outlined in Rethinking Religion, focusing on the role of belief in a cognitive model of religious ritual. While this theory effectively formalizes ritual structure, it fails to account for the role of belief in guiding ritual behavior. We argue that this omission weakens its explanatory power and propose an extension that incorporates two mediating systems: a concept selection system that extracts religious concepts, and a belief selection system that determines the beliefs that motivate ritual performance. By integrating beliefs into the cognitive model, this revision restores human agency in ritual and challenges the assumption that rituals are determined solely by conceptual structures and superhuman agency.
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Informacje: Studia Religiologica, 2025, Tom 58, Numer 1, s. 1-22
Typ artykułu: Oryginalny artykuł naukowy
Tytuły:
Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Polska
Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
Polska
Publikacja: 01.12.2025
Status artykułu: Otwarte
Licencja: CC BY 4.0
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AngielskiLiczba wyświetleń: 416
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