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Explore the adaptive and protecting functions of misbeliefs, with a focus on religion, using cognitive and evolutionary approaches. Investigate the function of misbeliefs and their relationship to human rationality.
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Konrad Talmont-Kaminski (Marie Curie-Sklodowska U., Poland) Desirability of religion and the non-cognitive function of misbeliefs
Background • Philosopher of science • Investigating superstitious and religious beliefs • Their relation to human rationality • Using • Cognitive approaches • Evolutionary explanations of human behaviour • Philosophy of science
Plan • Adaptive misbeliefs • Protecting misbeliefs • Plausible misbeliefs • Desirability of misbeliefs • Investigating misbeliefs
Adaptive misbeliefs • Misbeliefs can motivate adaptive behaviour • Fear of Fri 13th leads to avoiding train crash • Coincidental • Only significant if systematic • Possible systematic examples • Magical contagion • Religion
Adaptive misbeliefs • Magical Contagion (Paul Rozin) • Cardigan example (Bruce Hood) • Fear of ‘catching’ evil • Invisible vehicles of contagion passed by contact • Very useful given bacteria & viruses • False explanation, partly true (overgeneralised) correlation • Role of explanation? • Ideas of magical contagion motivate behaviour • Ideas of magical contagion post hoc explanation of behaviour • Studied extensively by Paul Rozin • Misbelief explained as by-product of cognitive heuristic
Adaptive misbeliefs • The “boy who cried wolf” problem • Misbelief in the face of counterevidence • McKay and Dennett, BBS (forthcoming) • Misbelief unstable due to counterevidence • Can not be systematically adaptive • Disproved misbeliefs • Rejected • Reinterpreted
Protecting misbeliefs • Misbeliefs can be protected against counterevidence • Talmont-Kaminski, BBS (forthcoming) & Teorema 28.3 • Protected misbeliefs stable • Can still motivate behaviour • Three ways to protect misbeliefs • Content • Social context • Methodological context
Protecting misbeliefs • Content of stable misbeliefs • Avoid content in direct conflict with experience • Claim epistemic impediments • Invisibility – ghosts, Christian god • Shyness – faeries • Distant locale – dragons, Olympic gods • Shape-shifting – Olympic gods • Vagueness – New Age beliefs • Problem • Belief in the face of the lack of evidence
Protecting misbeliefs • Social context of misbeliefs • Make investigation of misbeliefs socially unacceptable • The sacred – religious and magical beliefs • Religious relics • Respecting religious beliefs above other kinds • Disparage curiosity • Oppose rational criticism • Problem • Stultifies progress
Protecting misbeliefs • Methodological context of misbeliefs • Related to social context • Limit access to science • Scientific equipment • Scientific methods • Scientific attitudes • Problem • Limited access to science • Not an issue traditionally
Plausible misbeliefs • Why believe without evidence? • Not really a problem • Only problem with perfectly rational beings • Why believe without evidence the things we do? • Primarily: Due to the particularities of human cognitive system • Secondarily: Due to function of the beliefs
Plausible misbeliefs • By-products of cognitive heuristics • Type I errors (Skinner, Error Management Theory) • Magical contagion (Rozin) • Cognitive science of religion • Minimally counterintuitive concepts (Boyer) • Hyperactive agency detection device (Guthrie)
Desirability of misbeliefs • What, if anything, is the function of misbeliefs? • Not to accurately represent the world • Protecting against disconfirmation ensures truth of a belief is coincidental • Allows other functions to determine popularity of belief • Function must depend upon the behaviour motivated by the belief
Desirability of misbeliefs • Several possibilities • Adaptive for individuals • Costly-signalling (Sosis) • Adaptive for groups • Pro-social behaviour (D. S. Wilson) • Adaptive for beliefs • Memetic virus (Dawkins, Blackmore) • Not directly functional • Simply a by-product (Boyer)
Desirability of misbeliefs • Which thesis about function is correct? • Need to investigate religion to find out • Answer may be complex • Is religion is something desirable for us? • Universally assumed by religious individuals • Dennett’s “Belief in belief” • Need to investigate religion to find out • Not necessarily even if an individual adaptation • Dennett’s question: Who thinks that their goal in life is to have as many kids as possible?
Investigating misbeliefs • Problem • Investigation of religion • Requires scientific attitude • Maintaining positive effects of religious claims • Requires maintaining belief in those claims • Which requires • Protecting those beliefs • Investigation of religion undermines its function • Even if that function happens to be individually desirable
Thank you Konrad Talmont-Kaminski konrad@talmont.com deisidaimon.wordpress.com McKay & Dennett Evolution of Misbelief, Behavioral & Brain Sciences (forthcoming) Talmont-Kaminski, Effective untestability and bounded rationality help to see religion is adaptive misbelief, Behavioral & Brain Sciences (forthcoming) Talmont-Kaminski, Fixation of superstitious beliefs, Teorema 28.3