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I'm not sure I buy your distinction between "natural superstitions" and "religion". Can you go into more detail about why, for instance, the quite elaborate myt

by hugh3 16y ago

I'm not sure I buy your distinction between "natural superstitions" and "religion". Can you go into more detail about why, for instance, the quite elaborate mythologies of the various Australian Aboriginal tribes don't count as religions?

derefr 16y ago
My distinction is purely between abductive, and inductive reasoning. Mythology is abductive—it looks at things that happen, and then ascribes causes. It cannot be used to predict what will happen. Religion is inductive—you think things like "it appears that people who do X die mysteriously; therefore (through induction) God smites people who do X. Thus (deductively) God will smite me if I do X, so I should not do X." Aboriginals never develop this sort of logic.