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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Autore principale: Rigoli, Francesco (Autore)
Tipo di documento: Elettronico Articolo
Lingua:Inglese
Verificare la disponibilità: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Pubblicazione: 2021
In: Religion, brain & behavior
Anno: 2021, Volume: 11, Fascicolo: 2, Pagine: 147-164
(sequenze di) soggetti normati:B Fede / Giustificazione (Filosofia) / Teoria baysiana delle decisioni
Notazioni IxTheo:AB Filosofia delle religioni
AD Sociologia delle religioni
AE Psicologia delle religioni
Altre parole chiave:B Decision theory
B Bayesian
B Religione
B Motivazione
B computational modeling
Accesso online: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Riepilogo: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
Comprende:Enthalten in: Religion, brain & behavior
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2020.1812704