THE INFORMATIONAL DYNAMICS OF JUDAIC TEXTS

This essay addresses the nature of information in Judaic texts, focusing particularly on the written names of God. I argue that these names are the main instrument through which information is organized in Judaic systems. Names are a difficult subject in the philosophy of language because they work differently than other features of language; they tend to capture information that is much more specific than other types of language. Names are bound to specific “experiences,” “baptisms” in space and time, referring to unique persons and places. When names are written they take on different properties than verbalized names because their physical form, not their sound, persists in time.

Cognitive science gives us some valuable insights on the nature of naming in human and other biological worlds. Instead of confining these insights to previous cognitive approaches to religion, my work instead seeks to integrate research in cognitive science and related fields into the study of religion in ways that can be relevant to humanist scholars of religion. This puts me in a difficult position, between rock and hard place.

Cognitive scientists of religion have a scientific agenda in their attempts to explain religion, though they often misrepresent just how much we know about the human mind/brain and the uncertainty at the heart of modern scientific projects. I am not suggesting that the uncertainty is a bad thing; quite the contrary, science is based on potential falsification and not being certain about its basic theories.