شکستن طلسم دنت؛ تأملی در دین‌پژوهی طبیعی دنیل دنت

نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی

نویسندگان

گروه فلسفه، دانشکده الهیات، دانشگاه تهران

10.22061/orj.2025.12368.904

چکیده

دنیل دنت، فیلسوف برجسته معاصر، با ارائه رویکردی طبیعت‌گرایانه و تکاملی به دین، به‌ویژه در کتاب «شکستن طلسم»، تأثیر قابل توجهی بر دین‌پژوهی نوین داشته است. مقاله حاضر به تحلیل انتقادی و نظام‌مند دین‌پژوهی طبیعی دنت می‌پردازد. این پژوهش با روش توصیفی-تحلیلی، ضمن تبیین دقیق آرای دنت در خصوص منشأ تکاملی دین، سازوکارهای بقای آن و ارزیابی او از سود و زیان دین، به بررسی و نقد این رویکرد می‌پردازد. یافته‌ها نشان می‌دهد که تأکید دنت بر ضرورت بررسی علمی دین و شناسایی سازوکارهای فرهنگی و روان‌شناختی آن ارزشمند است. با این حال، رویکرد طبیعت‌گرایانه او در مواردی چون نفی قطعی منشأ ماورائی دین، خلط مکرر میان علل گرایش به دین و منشأ پیدایش خود دین، تعمیم‌گرایی در بررسی پیامدهای دین بدون توجه به تفاوت ادیان، و تقلیل‌گرایی در تبیین پدیده‌های پیچیده دینی، با چالش‌های جدی مواجه است. این تحلیل انتقادی می‌تواند به فهم عمیق‌تر از محدودیت‌ها و ظرفیت‌های دین‌پژوهی طبیعت‌گرا کمک کرده، زمینه‌ای برای گفتگوی سازنده‌تر میان رویکردهای علمی و الهیاتی به دین فراهم آورد و به دین‌پژوهان در ارزیابی دقیق‌تر نظریه‌های معاصر یاری رساند.

کلیدواژه‌ها

موضوعات


عنوان مقاله [English]

Breaking Dennett’s Spell: A Reflection on Daniel Dennett’s Naturalistic Study of Religion

نویسندگان [English]

  • Mahdi Ghofrani
  • Abbas Yazdani
Department of Philosophy. Faculty of Theology. University of Tehran
چکیده [English]

Daniel Dennett, a prominent contemporary philosopher, has significantly influenced modern scholarship on religion through his naturalistic and evolutionary approach, particularly in his book Breaking the Spell. The present article offers a critical and systematic analysis of Dennett’s naturalistic study of religion. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the study precisely elucidates Dennett’s views on the evolutionary origins of religion, the mechanisms underlying its persistence, and his evaluation of religion’s benefits and harms. The findings suggest that Dennett’s emphasis on the necessity of a scientific investigation into religion and his focus on uncovering its cultural and psychological mechanisms are of considerable value. Nevertheless, his naturalistic approach faces substantial challenges, including his categorical denial of any transcendent origin of religion, his frequent conflation of the causes of religious inclination with the origins of religion itself, his generalizations regarding the consequences of religion without accounting for inter-religious differences, and his reductionist tendencies in explaining complex religious phenomena. This critical analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the limitations and potentials of a naturalistic approach to the study of religion, paving the way for more constructive dialogue between scientific and theological perspectives, and aiding scholars in more nuanced evaluations of contemporary theories.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

  • Daniel Dennett
  • Naturalistic Study of Religion
  • Breaking the Spell
  • Evolution of Religion
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