Agency, Morals & the Mind - Mattia Gallotti and Scott Atran

source: SchAdvStudy   2016年10月21日
26-09-2016 School of Advanced Study
http://www.sas.ac.uk/
http://humanmind.ac.uk/

Opening remarks
Mattia Gallotti | Research Fellow in Philosophy; Project Manager, The Human Mind Project, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Morals, Culture and Society
Will to Fight: Devoted Actors and the Spiritual Dimension of Human Conflict
Scott Atran | Director of Research, CNRS; and Research Fellow, University of Oxford

Uncompromising wars, revolution, rights movements, and today’s global terrorism are in part driven by Devoted Actors who adhere to sacred or transcendent values that generate actions independently, or all out of proportion, from rationally expected outcomes, calculated costs and consequences, or likely risks and rewards. Field-based observation, surveys and experimental studies in real-world political conflicts show ways in which Devoted Actors, who are unconditionally committed to sacred causes, and whose personal identities are fused within a unique collective identity, willingly make costly sacrifices including fighting and dying, thus enabling low-power groups to endure and often prevail against materially much stronger foes. Explaining how devoted actors come to sacrifice for cause and comrade not only is a scientific goal, but also a practical imperative to prevent and resolve seemingly intractable intergroup disputes that can spiral out of control in a rapidly interconnecting world of collapsing and conflicting cultural traditions in search of salvation. Fieldwork and experiments in Europe, NorthAfrica and on the frontlines in the battle with the Islamic State in Iraq help to make the case.
The Human Mind Project