RESEARCH BASE
Search 3,721 documents across 34 fields — every claim tier-rated by evidence
3,633 are the core, quality-scored corpus (34 lettered sections — see How We Work); the remaining 88 are cross-corpus synthesis documents (68 InterDocs, 12 Connections, 8 Theories) also indexed here.
15 results for "agency"
P_2_14 — Philosophy of Action: Agency, Intention, and Collective Action
The philosophy of action investigates the nature of human agency — what it means to act (as opposed to merely moving), what makes an action intentional, how reasons relate to causes, and how individual agency extends to
G_4_13 — HADD and Agency Detection — Why We See Beings Everywhere
The Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD) — a term coined by cognitive scientist Justin Barrett (2000) building on work by Stewart Guthrie (1993) and Pascal Boyer (2001) — refers to the proposed cognitive mechanism
G_3_23 — Actor-Network Theory: Latour, Callon, and the Agency of Non-Humans
Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach developed primarily by Bruno Latour (1947–2022), Michel Callon (born 1945), and John Law (born 1946) at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CS
B_5_06 — Deification of Natural Phenomena: Thunder, Earthquakes, Disease as Entities
Across virtually every documented human culture, natural phenomena — storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, epidemics, drought — have been personified as intentional agents: gods, demons, or spirits with desires, emoti
C_5_01 — Cognitive Anthropology of Serpent Archetypes
This document examines the evolutionary and cognitive science explanations for why serpent beings appear in virtually every human culture. Snake Detection Theory (Isbell, 2009) proposes that primates evolved superior vis
K_3_08 — Intention, Volition, and Motor Consciousness
The neural basis of voluntary action and the timing of conscious intention relative to brain activity has become one of the most productive — and philosophically consequential — research programs in consciousness studies
K_5_04 — Neuroscience of Belief
Belief — the mental state of holding something to be true — is a cornerstone of conscious experience, shaping perception, memory, emotion, decision-making, and behavior. The neuroscience of belief has revealed that belie
G_4_04 — Cognitive Science of Religion and the Anthropology of Belief
The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is an interdisciplinary field that explains religious belief and practice as natural products of evolved cognitive mechanisms rather than supernatural revelation or cultural invent
T_4_01 — Psychology of Belief & Conspiracy Thinking
The psychology of conspiracy thinking examines why individuals adopt beliefs in secret plots by powerful actors to achieve malevolent goals — beliefs that often resist disconfirmation and form interconnected "monological
T_5_04 — Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
The psychology of religion investigates why humans believe in supernatural agents, how religious practices affect cognition and well-being, and what psychological functions religion serves. The field was inaugurated by W
T_5_18 — Cognitive Science of Religion: How Minds Create Gods
The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) is an interdisciplinary field — emerging in the 1990s from cognitive psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and neuroscience — that explains religious beliefs and practice
B_5_12 — Cognitive Science of Monster Concepts: Why Humans Invent Creatures
Why do all human cultures independently generate remarkably similar monster concepts — predatory hybrids, shape-shifters, reanimated corpses, giant serpents, invisible watchers? Cognitive science offers a compelling fram
P_1_15 — Philosophy of Information: Floridi, Digital Ethics, and the Infosphere
The philosophy of information (PI) is a relatively young branch of philosophy that investigates the conceptual nature and basic principles of information, including its dynamics (computation, information flow), its utili
ZE_1_15 — Moral Luck: Nagel, Williams, and Fortune in Moral Judgment
Moral luck refers to the phenomenon that people are morally judged — praised or blamed — for factors beyond their control, despite the widely held principle that moral judgment should apply only to what is within an agen
I_5_12 — AAWSAP / Skinwalker Ranch — DIA Program Analysis
The Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was a classified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) program that operated from 2008 to 2012 with approximately $22 million in funding, secured through a C
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