Journal
TOPICS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Volume 7, Issue 4, Pages 611-623Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12162
Keywords
Causal explanation; Causal reasoning; Explanatory coexistence; Vanuatu; Supernatural cognition; Cognitive science; Cognitive anthropology; Cross-cultural studies
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Funding
- John Templeton Foundation [37624, 40102]
- Economic and Social Research Council [ES/I005455/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- ESRC [ES/I005455/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Natural and supernatural explanations are used to interpret the same events in a number of predictable and universal ways. Yet little is known about how variation in diverse cultural ecologies influences how people integrate natural and supernatural explanations. Here, we examine explanatory coexistence in three existentially arousing domains of human thought: illness, death, and human origins using qualitative data from interviews conducted in Tanna, Vanuatu. Vanuatu, a Melanesian archipelago, provides a cultural context ideal for examining variation in explanatory coexistence due to the lack of industrialization and the relatively recent introduction of Christianity and Western education. We argue for the integration of interdisciplinary methodologies from cognitive science and anthropology to inform research on explanatory coexistence.
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