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Religion and morality: An anthropological comment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2006

Maurice Bloch*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics, London, WC2 2AE, United Kingdom College de France, Chaire Europe´enne, 75724 Paris Cedex 05, France http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/anthropology/mauricebloch.htm

Abstract:

This commentary criticises Bering on two counts. First, because we do not know what he attributes to natural selection and what he sees as derived representations. Second, Bering's ethnography of religion is inadequate. People who practise ancestor worship are not concerned with their own survival but with that of others. Many supernatural beings are not thought of as morally motivated.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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