Soul Beliefs: Causes and Consequences with Daniel Ogilvie and Leonard Hamilton

Throughout history, the vast majority of people around the globe have believed they have, however defined, a "soul." While the question of whether the soul exists cannot be answered by science, what we can study are the causes and consequences of various beliefs about the soul. Why are beliefs in a soul so common in human history? Is there some adaptive advantage to assuming souls exist? What cognitive development is necessary in order to believe in a self that transcends the body? Are there brain structures that have evolved specifically for maintaining soul beliefs? Why? How do these beliefs shape the worldviews of different cultures and our collective lives? What is the role of competing afterlife beliefs in religion, science, politics, and war? Soul Beliefs explores one of the oldest and most ephemeral axes of human difference.


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