Throughout history, the vast majority of people around the globe have believed they have, however defined, a “soul.” While the question of whether the soul exists cannot be answered by science, what we can study are the causes and consequences of various beliefs about the soul and its prospects of surviving the death of the body. Why are soul and afterlife beliefs so common in human history? Are there adaptive advantages to assuming souls exist? Are there brain structures that have been shaped by environmental pressures that provide the foundation of body/mind dualism that is such a prominent feature of many religions? How do these beliefs shape the worldviews of different cultures and our collective lives? What is the role of competing afterlife beliefs in religion, science, politics, and war? This course explores several facets of this relatively unexplored but profoundly important aspect of human thought and behavior.
Soul Beliefs: Causes and Consequences - Unit 3: How Does It All End?
Rutgers the State University of New JerseyAbout this Course
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Introduction to Unit 3
Evolutionary Psychology
The Evolution of the Human Brain
The Human Spark
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM SOUL BELIEFS: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES - UNIT 3: HOW DOES IT ALL END?
Culminates a 3 mooc series. They get increasingly abstract as they go on. This had some good info on science vs. religion.
Very interesting and engaging course. Loved the work that Professors Ogilvy and Hamilton did to put the 3 units together.
Amazing, thought provoking, engaging, and educational course
Great, but with less new content than Units 1 and 2.
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