The importance of imagination and subjective knowledge: The evolution of art and religion as symbolic representations of feelings, experiences, and beliefs
Abstract:Religion and art have been incredibly important in human evolution but, we argue, are often not taken seriously as an important source of knowledge. In this article, we propose that the arts and religions are symbolic systems that capture subjective knowledge, or knowledge about the world that is specific to human experience or the human condition, both concerning the self (existential subjective knowledge) and others (social subjective knowledge). Forms of this knowledge comprise feelings, experiences, and be… Show more
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