If you had three wishes to change the world, what would they be? Perhaps you would like to put an end to war? Reverse global warming? Or eliminate extreme poverty?

The experimental philosophy of law is a recent movement that aims to inform traditional debates in jurisprudence by conducting empirical research. This paper introduces and provides a systematic overview of the main lines of research in this field. It also covers the most important debates in the literature regarding the implications of these findings for the philosophy and theory of law. It argues that three challenges arise when addressing (old) legal‐philosophical questions in (new) experimental ways by drawing normative implications from empirical data: such implications are value‐driven, depend on explanations of empirical findings and vary across legal systems.

Abstract:One of the central claims of Norenzayan et al.'s article is that supernatural monitoring and inter-group competition have facilitated the rise of large-sale prosocial religions. While the authors outline in detail how social instincts that govern supernatural monitoring are honed by cultural evolution and have given rise to Big Gods, they do not provide a clear explanation for the success of karmic religions. Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation

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According to the Big Gods Theory, religions with beliefs in moralizing supernatural agents were culturally selected because they enhanced in-group cooperation during intergroup competition and conflict (e.g. Norenzayan 2013). According to the supernatural punishment hypothesis (SPH), this was possible because such agents were culturally represented as punitive and wrathful (e.g. Shariff and Norenzayan 2011). These gods activated reputational concerns, fears of punishment, and social compliance among believers. I examine evidence for the SPH from ancient Mesopotamia based on the cultural evolution of beliefs in the god Marduk. I argue that, contrary to the SPH, Marduk and other ancient Mesopotamian gods were often imagined to be both punitive and benevolent. I examine potential psychological and ecological factors involved in the cultural transmission of beliefs in these supernatural protectors alternative to those proposed by the SPH. I raise general questions concerning collecting and interpreting big data as evidence for Big Gods.