Re-evaluating the Effects of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake on Eighteenth-Century Minds: How Cognitive Science of Religion Improves Intellectual History with Hypothesis Testing Methods

This article articulates two prominent, competing explanations about cognitive effects of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and assesses them against historical documents. Humanities scholars' writings on the earthquake imply what I refer to as a "Secularizing Interpretation," which says that the earthquake caused cognitive change across social classes and geographical regions. Results from the cognitive science of religion yield what I refer to as the "Cognitive Science of Religion Hypothesis." This hypothesis says that people of the period interpreted this earthquake as caused (1) by God; (2) on purpose; (3) as a punishment; (4) on the out-group. The Secularizing Interpretation and the Cognitive Science of Religion Hypothesis are mutually inconsistent. This means that if one is shown to be true, the other is therefore false. This article advocates the Cognitive Science of Religion Hypothesis in two steps. Review of writings of philosophers and elites reveals little to no secularizing cognitive change. Review of writings by other authors reveals increases in religious and supernatural punishment cognition after the earthquake. This project recommends interdisciplinary methods to researchers in the humanities, which enable them to put their interpretations to the test.