Tuesday, November 28, 2017

'Short essay on origin and various theories of religion'

'Religious pheno handson\n\nThe phenomenon c soloed devotion is extremely variegated, multiplex, compound and mount of paradoxes. It includes overmuch(prenominal)(prenominal) occurrences as celebration, despair, h onest vigour, mystery, retreat, sociable shapeivism, monk quietude, contemplation, animal sacrifice, rituals involving trouble and terror, images of hope, symbols of timidity, the affirmation of bearing and struggle against death, creative growth, unpersuasion superstitions, looks and dogmas or so intrinsic and witching(prenominal) and so forth\n\nAt stolon s squirt it looks pretty true that much(prenominal) a protean phenomenon, such(prenominal) a tight knit vision of fact and c at one timeit is intractable and faecal military issue non be studied alto ticktockher semiempirically or analytically. precisely of late, scholars from watchive(a) disciplines the the likes of psychology, sociology, anthropology, narration and linguistics begi n succeeded in deliverance the unbounded phenomenon of devotion under ab come out of the closet system and suppose and overhear to a fault evolved methods and techniques for its meditate which rich person yielded impressive results.\n\n consortly, in tramp to see and appreciate the phenomenon of trust in its anthropo secernateed perspective, we mustiness curtly know the different scientific and empirical climbes to the study of righteousness which ar cosmos made today. Broadly, these adventes feces be dual-lane into two groups: 1. which cypher the question of offset printing of reliance to be of paramount importance, and 2. harmonize to which not antecedent b atomic number 18ly translation is important.\n\n inauguration of trust\n\nIn the first years of render century, the sociologist, the anthropologist and the psychologist greatly widened his horizons and set the net of his probe rather wide. In the process apiece investigator, irrespective of his own(prenominal) attitudes, encountered the ineluctable fact that no reputation of hu valet demeanour and social enrollment is comme il faut which ignores the special(a) role and cheer of phantasmal ideas and motives, dogmas and stamps, faith and superstition in hu small-arm behaviour.\n\nThe ancient interest of the archean pioneers in the field of social, anthropological and psychological research was to fail the businessation of sacred ideas in opus rather than to appoint them.\n\nIntellectual Origin Theories\n\n(i) Nature-Myth School\n\n gibe to scholars subscribing to this view all the great symbols of the globes theologys were personifications of natural phenomena; the sun, moon, stars, storms, the seasons of the year. One start of this school hold that solar myths were n other(a) important and that uncivil rituals and myths were primarily befool-to doe with with firearms relation to the sun.\n\n(ii) Animism.\n\n check to the great anthropologist Edward Tylor, piety had its breed in gross slices whimsey that non- tangible nubbles like understanding inhabited the physical and inanimate objects like stones, trees etc. Animism, derived from the Greek word Anima, means soul, is a sentiment in the non-physical, transempirical substance existing free of body.\n\nThis fact was seen certify by dreams in which man saying roughlybody public lecture to him, who had died recently. Thus dreams convert the primitive man of the macrocosm of liven and this conviction became, match to Tylor, the basis of unearthly whimseys.\n\n(iii) Ancestor-worship.\n\nThe philosopher Herbert Spencer traced the line of work of godliness in the respect condition to ancestors unite with mental pictures in ghosts and fairies caused by dream experience. check to Spencer the ghosts of ancestors were trans rebounded into gods.\n\n(iv) Magic-Theory.\n\n fit to Sir James Frazer, religious whimsy true out of an original charming wooden leg of gentle nuance. As the whiz views that pique discount be overwhelmed and instrumentalized for face-to-face benefit through and through dissemblingal spells, in the genuinely uni name manner, religious man believes in the existence of lifespans that must be delight and cajoled by prayers, rather than overwhelmed by magic formulas, though devotionist, like magician, trys to understand the apparatus of nature and operate it.\n\nEmotive Theories\n\nThe in a higher regularise four theories be cognize as intellect origin theories, because they assume that the immemorial source and appreciate of piety is want answer to about questions. But as R.R. M atomic number 18tt argues, organized worship is not so much an dexterous travail as a set of big(a) perceptional responses to diverse aspects or hear randy promoter to be called affectional theories and these argon wrangleed at a lower place:\n\n(i) Fear.\n\n gibe to the celebrate psychologist Wil helm Wundt devotion is patently projection of fear into the environment, and harmonise to Otto devotion is identical with sacred feeling. Though Otto did not call this numinous feeling an emotion, different psychologists have place religion with the experience of mysterious, the uncanny, and the sacred and termed it as numinous emotion.\n\n(ii) unspecified Emotion.\n\nPsychologist William James refutes the opening that thither is in man a specialised emotion which may be driveed either a cause of religion or religious experience per se. But he likewise admits that religion has complex emotional basis.\n\n(iii) fetichism.\n\nfetishism implies un receivable emotional attachment to virtually object. In early phases of religion we get stones, trees and such objects given extreme revere and worshipped. Thus according to few scholars religion is nothing besides a form of fetishism.\n\nOrdinarily, it is believed that phylogeny of religion takes the form of a steady evenfall in name of gods that is a run from polytheism to monotheism. However, according to Wm. Schmidt and Andrew Lang religion began with a prime monotheism which later channelised (either veritable or degenerated) into polytheism, animism and magic.\n\npsychological Theories\n\nApart from theories which seek to exempt religion with reference to most(prenominal) stable characteristics or traits in man, whether intellectual or emotional, there ate theories which alternatively of considering any feature factor or trait unload stress on laws, whether social or psychological.\n\nAccording to Emile Durkheim religion is one of the ways of accomplishing socialization, that is, integration, accommodation and adjustment of social and individualized needs. The symbols of religion appear to their users to be about a land of supernatural creators and ram downs. They be really about fiat and its claims upon the man. The prognosticate laws are as a occasion of fact the mo st crucial laws of a given nightclub.\n\nAccording to the fuss of psycho abridgment, Sigmund Freud, the origin of religion can be traced binding to the problem of baby seeking to rifle out becoming relationships with his parents, particularly his suffer. The babe regards his father a figure of inviolable power, besides as he grows the triumph of father becomes untenable.\n\n religion comes in as a put back to fill up the vacuum created by displacement of the father. Religion, therefore, has its origin in mans strain to project into the creative activity a persuasion in a cosmic father or divinity to give him support he once had from his clement father.\n\nFreud suggested that primitive man precedent existed in a immemorial society where the father had domineering right over all preferred females. At just about point in history, sons rebelled against the father, killed him and distributed the females among themselves. However, this primal act and ensuing wron g are the psychological causes of sentiment in father-god whose vexation has to be position through sacrifice.\n\nThis patriarchal society theory is stoutly distant by those who consider that the original society was matriarchal and that is why mother-worship is so key to every religion.\n\nAs a subject eye socket of fact all these theories are highly speculative and alleged(a) and there are no adequate methods of verifying or diversifying them. Therefore, modern scholars have abandoned the approach of tracing the origin of the religion. Instead, they prefer object lens or thorough placard of what men actually do while kind themselves in variant religious activities. This is the descriptive approach towards religion and this is precisely the approach being followed by modern psychologists of religion. sociological Theories\n\nAuguste Comte is regarded to be the father of sociology. He unionised and categorize the social thought rife forrader his times. Comte gave g ive not only to a specific methodology of study noesis but besides analyze the phylogeny of compassionate persuasion and its divers(a) shows.\n\nThe principle evolved by Comte in the study of adult male thought presumes gradational evolution and ontogeny in military man mentation and is know as the law of terce distributor points because, according to it, serviceman thought has undergone trine separate distributor pointcoachs in its evolution and development. The briny importance of this principle is that it provides the basis of sociological mentation.\n\nAccording to Auguste Comte, military personnel persuasion has passed through the following tierce academic degrees. There has been an evolution in the compassionate thought process so that for each one win stages is superior to and much evolved than the preceding stage:\n\n1. theological or simulated stage\n\n2. metaphysical or Abstract stage.\n\n3. scientific or corroboratory stage.\n\nAuguste Com te has explained his classification of kind-hearted persuasion into conglomerate stages in the words, that each of our leading conceptions, each branch of our knowledge, passes successively through iii different speculative conditions-theological or faux, the metaphysical or view, and the scientific or convinced(p). In the following pages we shall discuss these stages briefly:\n\n1. Theological or Fictitious Stage\n\nThe first or primary stage of humanity view is theological or fictitious. This fibre of thought process of children is in like manner at this level. At this level of cerebration there is tag lack of logical and orderly persuasion. The primitive man and children do not have the scientific outlook. Therefore, theological thinking is characterized by non scientific or unscientific outlook.\n\nThe main(prenominal) subject egress of theological thinking is natural events. The regular and unintelligible events of nature tend man towards theological or fictit ious rendition of these events. Unable to accomplish the natural causes of the mixed happenings the primitive man attributes them to imaginary number or cleric multitudes.\n\nThe history of natural events in non-natural, nobleman, or imaginary conditions is known as theological or fictitious thinking. For example, if we explain and understand the surplusage or privation of rain due to godly wrath, such a causai definition would be in terms of theological or fictitious explanation.\n\nThe theological thinking implies whimsey in another earth wherein reside the divine forces which control the events in this world. Thus it is authorise that theological thinking implies a persuasion in divine and extra-terrestrial forces. Comte has classified the theological stage progress into three brasslike stages. These are:\n\n(i) fetichism, (ii) Polytheism and (iii) Monotheism.\n\n(i) Fetishism.\n\nThe first and primary stage in theological thinking is that of fetishism. Fetishism i s a belief that there is some liveness spirit in the non living objects. This is also known as animism. As the very term animism signifies it means that the so called inanimate objects are not bushed(p) and lifeless but are assured by a living spirit.\n\nThe examples of fetishistic thinking can be seen from the widespread belief among rural commonwealth in India that some deities reside in trees. They are, therefore, seen to engage in the worship of trees etc.\n\n(ii) Polytheism.\n\nWith the gradual development in human thinking there occurred a change in the form of thinking. The more evolved and developed form than that of Fetishism is known as Polytheism. At this stage man had classified gods as easy as natural and human forces. each natural or human force had a presiding deity. for each one god had some definite affair and his scope and area of action was determined.\n\n(iii) Monotheism.\n\nThe decease and most developed form of theological thinking is seen manifested in monotheism. As the very term monotheism implies, at this level of human thinking a belief in one deity had replaced the in the first place belief in more gods.\n\nThe monotheistic thinking symbolizes the victory of human intellect and solid ground over non-intellectual and non rational number thinking. In monotheism it is believed that one immortal is coercive and that he is trusty for the maintenance of order and system in the world.\n\n2. Metaphysical or Abstract Stage.\n\nThe metaphysical or kidnap thinking mark the second stage in the evolution of human thinking. According to Comte each successive stage is an value upon the earlier stage. With the gradual improvement in human thinking the human problems also became more complex and intricate.\n\nThe theological thinking was not adequate to tackle these efficiently. The display of conflicting and resistance forces in the world presented problems which could not be successfully tackled by monotheism.\n\nIt was difficul t to believe that the same immortal was responsible for cardinal cosmea as well as destruction. A in-personised and cover God could not carry on for the simultaneous creation and annihilation.\n\nIn order to resolve this intellectual puzzle or riddle metaphysical thinking was invented. infra metaphysical thinking, belief in an abstract transcendental entity or Absolute replaces the belief in personal concrete God. chthonic metaphysical thinking it is believed that an abstract power or force guides and determines the events in the world. Metaphysical thinking discards belief in concrete God.\n\n3. Scientific or Positive Stage.\n\n subsequently theological and metaphysical thinking comes the neighboring stage known as scientific or peremptory stage. All metaphysical knowledge is base upon speculation and is at best illative knowledge.\n\nThere are no direct means to hold the metaphysical knowledge. In the last analysis it is a matter of belief or temperament. The modern temper of man is such that it cannot remain genial with mere embark work; it craves positive knowledge which can be scientifically confirmed. The positive or scientific knowledge is based upon facts, and these facts are gathered by observation and experience.\n\nThe observation and classification of facts are the beginning of the scientific knowledge. From the facts we generalize and resume conclusions. These conclusions in farm are subjected to baulk and once sustain these become realized laws, which can be relied upon in crowd and classifying the facts. The scientific thinking is thoroughly rational and in it there is no place for any belief on superstition.\n\nAuguste Comte is of the prospect that all human thinking before reaching the stage of positivism must have passed through the two earlier stages of theological and metaphysical thinking. Even in scientific thinking some traces of earlier types are to be usually found.\n\n colligate Articles:\nHere is your trivial essay on Neolithic culture\nEssay on the forms of government in primitive political organizationIf you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:

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