The ’ontic’ form of structural realism (OSR), roughly speaking, aims at a complete elimination of objects of the discourse of scientific theories, leaving us with structures only. As put by the defenders of such a claim, the idea is that all there is are structures and, if the relevant structures are to be set theoretical constructs, as it has also been claimed, then the relations which appear ...

In a recent work inspired by Borgman's [1] approach to exploring issues at the intersection of information and reality, Chapman [2] outlined a framework for thinking about issues at the intersection of information and religion, viz. information about religion, information for religion, and information as religion. This framework might be complemented by another in which the same issues – that i...

Despite recent advances in the field of religion and health, meaningful findings will increasingly depend on the capacity to conceptualize "religion" properly. To date, scientists' conception of religion has been shaped by the Enlightenment paradigm. However, recent developments in philosophy make the "objectivity" of the Enlightenment paradigm problematic, if not untenable. Contrary to common ...

Liaqat Ali 1,2, Saeed Islam 1, Taza Gul 1, Ilyas Khan 3, L. C. C. Dennis 4,∗ , Waris Khan5 and Aurangzeb Khan 6 1 Department of Mathematics, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan 23200, KPK, Pakistan; [email protected] (L.A.); [email protected] (S.I.); [email protected] (T.G.) 2 Department of Electrical Engineering, CECOS University, Peshawer 25000, KPK, Pakistan 3 Department of Mathem...

To determine the relation of religious behavior to certain areas of personality, such as neuroticism, spontaneity, and worldmindedness, dimensions of personal and religious behavior were isolated by factor analysis and interrelated by canonical analysis. Characteristics of religious behavior and personalityreligion interaction differ among Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Baha'is, and non-affiliat...

The promulgation of South African policy regarding the place of religion in public education was delayed until 2003, after a lively debate. The National Policy on Religion in Education effectively banned confessional, sectarian religion from public schools, but allowed for the teaching of Religion Studies as an academic subject and for religious observances, on condition that these were offered...

When we think about the relationship between the brain and Judaism there are many possibilities to explore, ranging from the practical to the esoteric. Over the past twenty years there has been a growing development in this field, which some have referred to as neurotheology. Broadly speaking, neurotheology is a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to understand the relationship specific...

Many theories of religion tend toward a naturalistic, sociological, Durkheimian framework. While these theories have pointed out important dimensions of religious experience, they risk reducing the human experience of religion to a purely social or psychological phenomenon, without taking seriously the claims of religious adherents themselves. How can we begin to work toward a unique theory of ...

Similarity of religious beliefs and practices among friends, or network-religion autocorrelation, is a common aspect of many social networks. Network-religion autocorrelation is important because it strengthens plausibility structures (Berger 1967), or the combination of beliefs and strong social ties to others who share those beliefs. Plausibility structures support sacred umbrellas (Smith 199...