ABSTRACT
When it comes to defining religion, there are thus two common approaches: one inductively browses through the group of things already known to be religions, looking for an essentially shared feature; and the other sets about looking for the common function performed in each religious practice or institution. If one takes the former route, then objects are defined by some key feature that is internal to them, more often than not some non-empirical feature judged to be sui generis (that is, self-caused, one of a kind, unique).
