Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history

Nature • Vol/Iss. 567(7748) • Springer Nature Publishing AG • • Published In • Pages: 226-229 •
By Whitehouse, Harvey, François, Pieter, Savage, Patrick E., Curie, Thomas E., Feeney, Kevin C., Cioni, Enrico, Purcell, Rosalind, Moss, Robert M., Larson, Jennifer, Baines, John, ter Haar, Barend, Covey, Alan, Turchin, Peter

Abstract

Researchers tackle the moral gods hypothesis which proposes that moral gods enabled large-scale societies to evolve. They use 414 societies spanning 10,000 years in Seshat: Global History Databank and code 51 measures of social complexity and four measures of moral gods. The findings of the present study challenge the moral gods hypothesis. In the societies studied, complex societies appear to precede moral gods rather than the inverse of moral gods preceding complex societies.
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: milagro.escobar  abbe.mccarter  anj.droe