The majority of people from other societies, as well, see death as a transitional event that unbuckles the ethereal self from its body. In the United States alone, 95 of the population reportedly believes in life after death (Greeley Hout 1999 Lester et al. Keywords: causal reasoning death concept evolutionary theory existential psychology folk biology intelligent design intentionality mental representation teleological reasoning theory of mind Life is a jest, and all things show it I thought so once, and now I know it. The central thesis of the present article is that an organized cognitive system dedicated to forming illusory representations of (1) psychological immortality, (2) the intelligent design of the self, and (3) the symbolic meaning of natural events evolved in response to the unique selective pressures of the human social environment. They involve: causal attribution (why is mortal behavior represented as being causally related to ones afterlife how are dead agents envisaged as communicating messages to the living), moral judgment (why are certain social behaviors, i.e., transgressions, believed to have ultimate repercussions after death or to reap the punishment of disgruntled ancestors), theory of mind (how can we know what it is like to be dead what social-cognitive strategies do people use to reason about the minds of the dead), concept acquisition (how does a common-sense dualism interact with a formalized socio-religious indoctrination in childhood how are supernatural properties of the dead conceptualized by young minds), and teleological reasoning (why do people so often see their lives as being designed for a purpose that must be accomplished before they perish how do various life events affect peoples interpretation of this purpose), among others. Many of the predominant questions of existential psychology strike at the heart of cognitive science. Recent ndings and logic from the cognitive sciences contribute to a novel theory of existential psychology, one that is grounded in the tenets of Darwinian natural selection. A Trip Into The Supernatural For Free Public Fullĭiscover the worlds research 17 million members 135 million publications 700k research projects Join for free Public Full-text 1 Content uploaded by Nathalia L Gjersoe Author content All content in this area was uploaded by Nathalia L Gjersoe on Content may be subject to copyright. A Trip Into The Supernatural For Free Public Fullįigures - uploaded by Nathalia L Gjersoe Author content All figure content in this area was uploaded by Nathalia L Gjersoe Content may be subject to copyright.

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