In the last two decades, cognitive and evolutionary approaches have appeared as new and invigorating attempts to explain what religion is: how religious phenomena emerged, why they persist, and why we find recurring patterns across cultural and historical borders. When addressing such question from perspectives informed by evolutionary biology and cognitive science, a pertinent question arises: How do we reconcile these new theories, and more experimentally inclined approaches, with a more traditional historical and/or sociological study of religion? What can cognitive and evolutionary approaches teach a general science of religion? In this paper I argue that historiography must indeed take theoretical and explanatory models arising from cognitive and evolutionary approaches seriously, but that we need to conceptualize not only the relation between distinct explanatory levels, but also the constraints imposed by the scope of particular scholarly endeavors.
Tento teoretický príspevok v úvode poukazuje na potrebu štúdia depresie kvôli nárastu jej výskytu a vplyvu na život. Následne popisuje príčiny jej vzniku prostredníctvom tradičných škôl a tiež poukazuje, ako by bolo možné obohatiť bežné a tradičné vnímanie príčin depresívnej poruchy o pohľad, ktorý aplikuje myšlienky evolučnej psychológie do oblasti sebaregulácie. Takto je možné vnímať depresiu ako evolučnú výhodu, ktorá rozširuje možnosti adaptácie, a tak zvyšuje kvalitu života. Z vedeckého pohľadu tento pohľad môže viesť k hlbšiemu a komplexnejšiemu pochopeniu depresie ako poruchy. Na základe týchto poznatkov diskutujeme, ako by bolo možné použiť tieto poznatky na teoretickej a praktickej úrovni. and This theoretical article first highlights the need for the study of depression, due its increasing occurrence and impact on life. Then it describes its causes through traditional paradigms and also shows the possibility to enrich the traditional perceptions of the causes of major depressive disorder with the insight applying ideas of evolutionary psychology into the area of self-regulation. Thus it is possible to perceive depression as evolutionary advantage that extends the capabilities of adaptation and therefore improves the quality of life. From a scientific perspective, this view can lead to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of depression as a disorder. Based on these findings practical and theoretical implementation is discussed.