The intuition of mind-body dualism underpins belief in disembodied supernatural agents
Evidence
You are an intuitive dualist if you feel that there is an “I” in you who has a relationship with your brain, but that the “I” is not your brain. Mind-body dualism is a naturally developing intuition that supports many religious beliefs. It is this intuition that gives rise to the pervasive belief in disembodied supernatural agents such as gods, souls, and spirits, who are believed to possess human-like mind stuff—beliefs, desires, emotions—allowing believers to have a personal relationship with God or other supernatural beings. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 71
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: Defines intuitive dualism as the felt separation of an ‘I’ from the brain, and links it to gods, souls, and spirits as agents possessing mind-stuff.
- XREF: Connects to the reading purpose: intuitive dualism explains how believers can experience an omniscient watchful God as a real mind-target, which is the substrate Big God surveillance mechanisms operate on.
Related
- Mind-body dualism is an intuitive building block of all religious thinking. (similarity 0.87)
- Mentalizing capacities are cognitive foundations for belief in God (similarity 0.78)
- Individual variation in cognitive intuitions predicts supernatural belief strength (similarity 0.78)
- Implicit theism arises from rapid automatic intuitions rather than reasoned belief (similarity 0.78)