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Social norms, mentalising, and common knowledge, in making peace and war

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Vincent Riordan Open the ORCID record for Vincent Riordan [Opens in a new window]
Vincent Riordan*
Affiliation:
West Cork Mental Health Services, Department of Psychiatry, Bantry Hospital, Bantry, County Cork, Ireland vincent.riordan@hse.ie
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

The emergence of social norms would have been dependent on the evolution of the cognitive capacity for mentalising to multiple orders of intentionality. Common knowledge is a related phenomenon that can solve coordination problems. That the same cognitive and social mechanisms should facilitate both peace and war is resonant with Girard's scapegoat hypothesis on the relationship between violence and religion.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e23
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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