Explaining the success of karmic religions

One of the central claims of Norenzayan et al.'s article is that supernatural monitoring and intergroup competition have facilitated the rise of large-scale prosocial religions. Although the authors outline in detail how social instincts that govern supernatural monitoring are honed by cultural...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Behavioral and brain sciences Vol. 39; p. e28
Main Authors White, Claire, Sousa, Paulo, Prochownik, Karolina
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Cambridge University Press 01.01.2016
Subjects
Buddhism
Cognition & reasoning
Competition
Cooperation
Cultural anthropology
Cultural Evolution
Group dynamics
Hinduism
Humans
Morality
Religion
Social Behavior
Success
Traditions
West Africa
Melanesia
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Summary:One of the central claims of Norenzayan et al.'s article is that supernatural monitoring and intergroup competition have facilitated the rise of large-scale prosocial religions. Although the authors outline in detail how social instincts that govern supernatural monitoring are honed by cultural evolution and have given rise to Big Gods, they do not provide a clear explanation for the success of karmic religions. Therefore, to test the real scope of their model, Norenzayan et al. need to seriously engage with questions concerning the evolution of karmic prosocial religions.
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ISSN:0140-525X
1469-1825
DOI:10.1017/S0140525X15000588