Explaining moral religions
Abstract
Moralizing religions, unlike religions with morally indifferent gods or spirits, appeared only recently in some (but not all) large-scale human societies. A crucial feature of these new religions is their emphasis on proportionality (between deeds and supernatural rewards, between sins and penance, and in the formulation of the Golden Rule, according to which one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself). Cognitive science models that account for many properties of religion can be extended to these religions. Recent models of evolved dispositions for fairness in cooperation suggest that proportionality-based morality is highly intuitive to human beings. The cultural success of moralizing movements, secular or religious, could be explained based on proportionality.
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Religious prosociality may have a strongly parochial component.
“However, religious prosociality may have a strongly parochial component 9 .”
From Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists (2017) · cites this paper as [9]
Mounting evidence supports longstanding claims that religions can extend cooperative networks.
“Mounting evidence supports longstanding claims that religions can extend cooperative networks 1-9 .”
From Global evidence of extreme intuitive moral prejudice against atheists (2017) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Baumard, N., & Boyer, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Baumard, Nicolas
- Venue
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 272-280
- ISSN
- 1364-6613 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2055040014
- Cited by
- 230
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 13.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Trends in Cognitive Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- proportionality, golden rule, moral psychology, moral intuitions, secular morality
- MeSH terms
- Culture, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Morals, Religion, Religion and Psychology, History, Ancient
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