A phylogenetic analysis of revolution and afterlife beliefs

Contenu

Titre

A phylogenetic analysis of revolution and afterlife beliefs

Créateur

Basava, Kiran Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Zhang, Hanzhi Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Mace, Ruth Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Date

2021

Dans

Nature Human Behaviour Voir tous les contenus avec cette valeur

Résumé

Beliefs about the fate of humanity and the soul after death may structure behaviours of religious groups. Here we test theories from religious studies: that belief in an imminent apocalypse co-evolved with and facilitated revolutionary violence, whereas belief in reincarnation caused people to acquiesce to existing social orders and withdraw from political activism. We test these hypotheses by building a cultural phylogeny of historical Islamic sects and schools from the seventh to twentieth centuries and use phylogenetic comparative methods to show that these two types of belief display distinct relationships with intergroup violence. There is substantial evidence that apocalyptic beliefs co-evolved with revolutionary violence, whereas reincarnation beliefs were evolutionarily stable in peaceful groups. In both cases, violence precedes the emergence of beliefs, which suggests that conditions that generate revolutionary violence changed beliefs rather than beliefs generating violence. We also found that apocalyptic beliefs are associated with accelerated group extinction, although causal relationships cannot be determined.

Langue

eng

Titre abrégé

Nat Hum Behav

doi

10.1038/s41562-020-01013-4

issn

2397-3374

Basava, Kiran, Zhang, Hanzhi, et Mace, Ruth, “A phylogenetic analysis of revolution and afterlife beliefs”, 2021, bibliographie, consulté le 18 octobre 2024, https://ibadica.org/s/bibliographie/item/4267