Philosophy of Religion and the Practice Turn

The academic study of religion and social theory in general are in the midst of what has been called “the practice turn,” that is, a shift of focus in theorizing human behavior that treats embodied social practices as the matrix from which all meaning and subjectivity grow. My aim is to argue that the practice turn is best served by a philosophy of mind that avoids dualism but nevertheless retains the category of beliefs, understanding them as conditioned by and emergent from the actions of material entities. In this paper, I use the defense of the category of belief in Jacob Mackey’s Belief and Cult -- and in particular, the “dual process” or “dual system” distinction he uses between two types of belief, one non-reflective or spontaneous, the other reflective or deliberate -- to make this case.