The Puzzle of Belief Requires an Evolutionary Key to be Solved

The puzzle of belief arises as currently no definition captures the various ways in which people believe. As a solution to this puzzle and to make the study of belief empirically tractable, Van Leeuwen and Lombrozo suggest acknowledging the plurality of beliefs and organizing beliefs according to their shared functions and traits. However, their proposal does not make yet the distinction between proper and derived functions of belief-generating cognitive systems. For that, we need a theoretical perspective anchored in evolutionary thinking. Such a perspective allows us to recognize the adaptive problems belief-generating cognitive systems solve and what sorts of beliefs they will tend to produce. By analyzing beliefs based on evolutionary considerations, we not only make the puzzle of belief empirically tractable, but also take an important step toward solving it.

Automated summary

The puzzle of belief arises from the lack of a definition that captures the various ways in which people believe. Van Leeuwen and Lombrozo suggest acknowledging the plurality of beliefs and organizing them according to shared functions and traits. However, their proposal does not distinguish between proper and derived functions. An evolutionary perspective can help solve this puzzle by analyzing beliefs based on adaptive problems and the types of beliefs they tend to produce.