A computational perspective on faith: religious reasoning and Bayesian decision

Religious reasoning (the processes through which religious beliefs are formed) has been investigated by two different approaches. First, explanation theories portray religious reasoning as arising for explaining salient aspects of reality. Second, motivation theories interpret religious reasoning as...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Rigoli, Francesco (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Routledge 2021
In: Religion, brain & behavior
Jahr: 2021, Band: 11, Heft: 2, Seiten: 147-164
normierte Schlagwort(-folgen):B Glaube / Rechtfertigung (Philosophie) / Bayes-Entscheidungstheorie
RelBib Classification:AB Religionsphilosophie; Religionskritik; Atheismus
AD Religionssoziologie; Religionspolitik
AE Religionspsychologie
weitere Schlagwörter:B Motivation
B Decision theory
B Bayesian
B Religion
B computational modeling
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Zusammenfassung:Religious reasoning (the processes through which religious beliefs are formed) has been investigated by two different approaches. First, explanation theories portray religious reasoning as arising for explaining salient aspects of reality. Second, motivation theories interpret religious reasoning as driven by other motives, for example fostering community bonding. Both approaches have provided fundamental insight, yet whether they can be reconciled remains unclear. To address this, I propose a unifying computational theory of religious reasoning expressed in mathematical terms. Although a mathematical approach has been rarely applied to study religion, its advantage is describing a phenomenon clearly and formally. Relying on a Bayesian decision framework, the model comprises three key elements: prior beliefs, novel evidence, and utility. The first two describe the processes classically interpreted by explanation theories, while utility captures phenomena highlighted by motivation theories. By reconciling explanation and motivation theories, this proposal offers a unifying computational picture of religious reasoning.
ISSN:2153-5981
Enthält:Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2020.1812704