Divination is found in most human societies, but there is little systematic research to explain (1) why it is persuasive or (2) why divination is required for important collective decisions in many small-scale societies. Common features of human communication and cooperation may help address both questions. A highly recurrent feature of divination is “ostensive detachment,” a demonstration that the diviners are not the authors of the statements they utter. As a consequence, people spontaneously interpret divination as less likely than other statements to be influenced by anyone’s intentions or interests. This is enough to give divination an epistemic advantage compared with other sources of information, answering question 1. This advantage is all the more important in situations where a diagnosis will create differential costs and benefits, for example, determining who is responsible for someone’s misfortune in a small-scale community. Divinatory statements provide a version of the situation that most participants are motivated to agree with, as it provides a focal point for efficient coordination at a minimal cost for almost all participants, which would answer question 2.
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Journals Division
The University of Chicago Press
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Why Divination?
Evolved Psychology and Strategic Interaction in the Production of Truth
Pascal Boyer is Professor in the Department of Anthropology of Washington University in Saint Louis (CB 1114, One Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130-4899, USA [[email protected]]).
SUBMITTED: Jan 20, 2018
ACCEPTED: Oct 05, 2018
ONLINE: Jan 14, 2020
ARTICLE CITATION
Pascal Boyer, "Why Divination?," Current Anthropology 0, no. 0 (-Not available-): 000.
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