A LITERARY TRINITY FOR COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Zygon December 3, 2025 John A. Teske 1 citation
The cognitive sciences contribute to the religion-and-science dialogue through three narrative perspectives—first, second, and third person—which correspond to consciousness, relationality, and healing. First-person accounts are crucial for understanding subjective experience and neurophenomenology, despite their epistemic limits and indirect causal role in behavior. Second-person perspectives highlight empathic, embodied relationality that supports an externalist account of mind, as increasingly evidenced by social neuroscience. Third-person accounts reveal us/them distinctions that can fuel dangerous tribalisms, threatening an interdependent world. The paper argues for awareness of these perspectives to foster healing.