> In fact, historically, atheism and/or agnosticism is just weird. Has
> there ever been an atheistic pre-modern society? Has there ever been a
> pre-modern society that didn't believe in ghosts and/or have some sort
> of ancestor cult? Either there is _some_ sort of reality underlying
> them, or it must be hardwired into the human brain, methinks.
Historically, most pre-modern societies also believed that the earth was flat, the stars were little lights in a black dome a short distance above the earth, etc.
Unlike these elementary astronomical matters, the functioning of the human brain/mind still holds many mysteries for science. The question of whether "ghosts" are manufactured by the brain of the observer or have some sort of intrinsic reality is still scientifically open, in my opinion. (However, the evidence put forth by those who claim to have observed them has proved maddeningly hard to put into an acceptable empirical form, up to now.)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org _______________________________ "For the world is not to be narrowed till it will go into the understanding (which has been done hitherto), but the understanding is to be expanded and opened until it can take in the image of the world." -- Francis Bacon