Jonathan Lewis-Jong – författare

Forming beliefs is one of the most basic and important features of the mind. While philosophers generally use the term "belief" to refer to human attitude when one takes something to be the case or regards it as true, both within and beyond the field alike, there is little agreement on the true nature of belief itself. Are beliefs simply representations stored in the mind? Is believing in something a matter of being disposed to act -- and to react -- in a particular pattern of ways? When we ascribe a "belief" to someone, are we not merely describing them, but applying some type of evaluative standard to them? If yes, what is that standard, and what might it signify? In The Nature of Belief, leading philosophers begin to address these questions and others concerning the nature of belief, interrogating the concept from a variety of conflicting ideologies and perspectives. This collection of fresh, insightful essays addresses pressing philosophical issues such as causal history, representational structure, correctness conditions, availability to consciousness, responsiveness to evidence, situational stability, and resistance to volitional change. The featured contributors also address how belief differs across related mental states, such as acceptance, imagination, assumption, judgment, credence, faith, and bias, offering groundbreaking analyses of a diverse range of critical viewpoints.This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

There is increasing evidence for the intergenerational decline of religiosity across many different countries: religious beliefs, behaviours, and identities of parents are not being passed on to their children. This Element surveys the psychological and sociological research on the intergenerational transmission of religion, focussing on the factors that influence it. After introducing the topic in Section 1, Section 2 describes the methods used to study intergenerational transmission. Section 3 argues that the religious decline in recent decades is mainly due to intergenerational changes, as distinct from ageing or historical period effects. Section 4 examines societal and social factors, including national context, peers, education, religious communities, and the Internet. Section 5 focusses on parents, who are the most important agents of religious socialisation. Section 6 draws lessons from religious minorities, highly religious families, and also nonreligious families. Section 7 offers some practical conclusions for parents, and suggests directions for future research.

There is increasing evidence for the intergenerational decline of religiosity across many different countries: religious beliefs, behaviours, and identities of parents are not being passed on to their children. This Element surveys the psychological and sociological research on the intergenerational transmission of religion, focussing on the factors that influence it. After introducing the topic in Section 1, Section 2 describes the methods used to study intergenerational transmission. Section 3 argues that the religious decline in recent decades is mainly due to intergenerational changes, as distinct from ageing or historical period effects. Section 4 examines societal and social factors, including national context, peers, education, religious communities, and the Internet. Section 5 focusses on parents, who are the most important agents of religious socialisation. Section 6 draws lessons from religious minorities, highly religious families, and also nonreligious families. Section 7 offers some practical conclusions for parents, and suggests directions for future research.