[RETRACTED ARTICLE] Complexity theory and the historical study of religion: navigating the transdisciplinary space between the Humanities and the Natural Sciences

Thales Silva

doi:10.15848/hh.v14i36.1669

Autores/as

Thales Silva Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9803-0296

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15848/hh.v14i36.1669

Palabras clave:

Interdisciplinarity, Methodology, Digital Humanities

Resumen

This article advocates for a set of recent transdisciplinary options for the History of Religion, combining methods from the Natural and Human Sciences, through a special focus on the study of so-called “complex systems”. We elucidate their theoretical bases and limitations while assuming a pragmatic positioning between a defense of the historical-scientific study of religion and the promotion of groundbreaking methodological outlooks emerging from the Digital Humanities. From this background, throughout the text, we argue for a complementation of historiographical “close reading” with both “distant reading” techniques and interdisciplinary research, using computer-based methods and a diversity of formal modeling techniques. In short, we conclude that such methods offer novel ways for data representation and are best understood not only as creative schemes for solving issues in historiography, but also as a springboard for new inquiries arising from the transdisciplinarity between the Humanities and the Natural Sciences.

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Biografía del autor/a

Thales Silva, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Thales Silva holds a Bachelor’s degree in History with specializations in Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology from UFMG. He is a member of the ‘Cognition, Evolution, and the Biological Basis of Religion’ research group at PUC-Rio, holding a Master’s degree in Cognitive Anthropology of Religion and being a doctoral candidate in Cognitive and Evolutionary Sciences of Religion at UFJF. His main areas of interest and expertise include major topics within Cognitive Historiography and Anthropology, especially the following: Cognitive Science of Religion, Cultural Evolution, Neuroanthropology, Evolutionary Psychology, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, and History of the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Citas

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