Jul 8, 2021 05:56 PM
https://retractionwatch.com/2021/07/07/c...f-in-gods/
EXCERPTS: A widely-touted 2019 study in Nature which argued that large societies gave rise to belief in fire-and-brimstone gods — and not the other way around — has been retracted by the authors after their reanalysis of the data in the wake of criticism diluted the strength of their conclusions.
The article, “Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history,” came from a group of scholars in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere, and was led by Harvey Whitehouse, an anthropologist and the the director of the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion at the University of Oxford.
The study prompted a significant amount of interest on social media and in the global press [...] As Scientific American put it, Whitehouse’s group found that the advent of moralizing gods did not lead to the formation of complex societies. Rather: "the study suggests pro-social religions appeared after complex societies had already emerged. Although these religions may have helped sustain and grow large societies, the analysis makes the case that they were not necessary for societies to expand in the first place."
[...] Immediately after publication, a group led by Bret Beheim ... submitted a response to the journal questioning the validity of the results. ... "the original paper treats absence of evidence for moralizing gods as evidence of their absence." (link)
[...] After reanalyzing their results in light of the challenge, Whitehouse’s group agreed that the findings weren’t quite as robust as they’d initially claimed.
Beheim told us [...] "I look forward to reading the … revised argument. The objection I had to the original analysis wasn’t so much their conclusion, but that they weren’t transparent about the amount of missing data involved. If our critique can help them nail that problem down, I think the field will progress. " (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: A widely-touted 2019 study in Nature which argued that large societies gave rise to belief in fire-and-brimstone gods — and not the other way around — has been retracted by the authors after their reanalysis of the data in the wake of criticism diluted the strength of their conclusions.
The article, “Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history,” came from a group of scholars in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere, and was led by Harvey Whitehouse, an anthropologist and the the director of the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion at the University of Oxford.
The study prompted a significant amount of interest on social media and in the global press [...] As Scientific American put it, Whitehouse’s group found that the advent of moralizing gods did not lead to the formation of complex societies. Rather: "the study suggests pro-social religions appeared after complex societies had already emerged. Although these religions may have helped sustain and grow large societies, the analysis makes the case that they were not necessary for societies to expand in the first place."
[...] Immediately after publication, a group led by Bret Beheim ... submitted a response to the journal questioning the validity of the results. ... "the original paper treats absence of evidence for moralizing gods as evidence of their absence." (link)
[...] After reanalyzing their results in light of the challenge, Whitehouse’s group agreed that the findings weren’t quite as robust as they’d initially claimed.
Beheim told us [...] "I look forward to reading the … revised argument. The objection I had to the original analysis wasn’t so much their conclusion, but that they weren’t transparent about the amount of missing data involved. If our critique can help them nail that problem down, I think the field will progress. " (MORE - details)
