Face recognition: When a nod is better than a wink

AbstractA recent study has shown that, when people talk, their changing facial expressions and head movements provide dynamic cues for recognition

A Theory of Religion

An account of what all and only religions share in virtue of which they are religions

Games and Family Resemblances

An account of the feature all games share in virtue of which they are games

A theory of religion revised

This essay is a revision of my earlier effort to overturn the prevailing view that there is merely a ‘family resemblance’ between religions. A religion is a system of practices rationalized by beliefs according to which the practices place the practitioner in a relation-of-value to a supermundane reality so grand that it can figure centrally in the satisfaction of substantial human needs. A ‘supermundane reality’ is one that exceeds the mundane world revealed by sense perception. The theory generates a useful taxonomy of practices and theories closely related to, but substantially different from, religions.</jats:p