Three Questions on the Relation between Religious Studies and Cybernetics

Richards, Laurence D.

Volume 15 · Number 1 · Pages 41–42

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Three Questions on the Relation between Religious Studies and Cybernetics

Laurence D. Richards

Abstract

Open peer commentary on the article “A Proposal for Personalised and Relational Qualitative Religious Studies Methodology” by Philip Baron. Abstract: If I accept that (second-order) cybernetics provides a way of thinking about studies of religion and religious behavior, with religious studies researcher-scholars accounting for their own world views and biases, then expressing explicitly what I, as a consumer of the results, would like to get from those studies (reflecting my world view) must be taken as desirable. After I offer such an expression, I generate three questions on the relevance of cybernetics to the conduct of these studies. The pursuit of these questions could then contribute to the insights on society and social transformation that I want from religious studies.

Handling Editor: Alexander Riegler

Citation

Richards L. D. (2019) Three questions on the relation between religious studies and cybernetics. Constructivist Foundations 15(1): 41–42. https://constructivist.info/15/1/041

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