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Enjoying your cultural cheesecake: Why believers are sincere and shamans are not charlatans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Maarten Boudry
Maarten Boudry*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. [email protected]
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Abstract

Cultural evolution explains not just when people tend to develop superstitions, but also what forms these beliefs take. Beliefs that are more resilient in the face of apparent refutations and more susceptible to occasional confirmation stand a greater chance of cultural success. This argument helps to dispel the impression that shamans are mere charlatans and believers are “faking it.”

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e70
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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