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#719 Dimitris Xygalatas - Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

The Dissenter

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The Disconnect Between Means and Goals in Rituals

There is evidence in the anthropological record that people do make this distinction. People might believe that their rituals act on the world, but even when they do, they have an understanding that this is a fundamentally different kind of action. For example, we did a study in my lab where we showed people, basketball players, shooting free throws. In half of the time, they would see those rituals that basketball players often perform before shots.

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