Teleological intuitions persist even in scientists and resist science education

Evidence

Teleological intuitions appear early in children’s thinking, and seem untutored. As early as five years of age, children have the intuition that lions exist so that we can visit them at the zoo, clouds are for raining, and mountains are for climbing. Adults hold them too, sometimes overtly, other times more clandestinely. There is evidence that science education, far from rooting out these intuitions, merely suppresses them. For example, even professional scientists slip into teleological thinking when under time pressure. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 73

Categorization

• XREF: Debt to Deborah Kelemen’s ‘intuitive theism’ connects to the reader’s interest in the cognitive substrate of Rodrigues’s sense of cosmic purpose under persecution. — connects to: Residual theistic intuitions persist even among explicit nonbelievers — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 885; Experience shows that mechanistic questions yield scientific knowledge while teleological ones do not. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 362; Supernatural beliefs that mildly violate intuitions spread better than others (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 73

Broader Connections

• Supernatural beliefs that mildly violate intuitions spread better than others #corroborates (0.78)
• Experience shows that mechanistic questions yield scientific knowledge while teleological ones do not. #complicates (0.75) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 362