A psychodynamic approach to the cognitive science of religion

Self-consciousness as subjective identity means finding oneself at the center of one’s own subjective world, hence at the center of a historical and cultural environment to which one feels one belongs. However self-awareness is a “precarious” acquisition, exposed to the risk of falling apart. This precariousness allows us to grasp the defensive nature of subjective identity. Its construction and defence are at the intersection of psychology and anthropology; defence mechanisms fall along a spectrum that stretches from the individual to the collective level. Against this backdrop, we analyse religion from the perspective of its being a system of techniques designed to protect the unity of self-consciousness.