Re: “superstitions prevent them from sleeping under dead trees” as rational — while I understand the point, I disagree. While a superstition can be introduced to a population on a rational basis (e.g. some well-intended ruler wants to prevent tree deaths and believes that viral superstition will be more effective than a logical explanation), having the superstition is not rational.
While the superstition can lead to a desirable outcome, that outcome was not achieved “based on or in accordance with reason or logic” (a dictionary definition of rationality).
My point isn’t pedantry. This point is important: when a belief is informed based on logic and evidence, it is subject to essential, survival-enhancing ongoing analysis. An individual can analyze the belief to understand 1) when the rule does apply or doesn’t apply, 2) the reasons different people or civilizations do not abide by that rule, 3) similar situations for which the same logic applies (e.g. don’t sleep under a rickety manmade structure), and 4) when the rule is no longer applicable, period.
In the case of #1 — an individual in need of shade could assess the structural soundness of a tree to inform their decision to sleep under it or not. In the case of #2 — the individual doesn’t have to think other civilizations crazy, ignorant or evil because they don’t have the same rule — i.e. doesn’t experience increased xenophobia based on this lack of shared belief. In the case of #3 — an individual could save their own life by avoiding being crushed by a rickety building. In the case of #4 — this makes more sense for the kosher rules — they can eliminate these rules when food safety is more of a given. An individual is better off by having operable, generalizable knowledge instead of rote superstition.
Rationality, reason, logic, evidence: stances based on these are generative, self-regulating, generalizable, evolutionary and permit mutually beneficial compromises. Superstitions permit none of these things. Superstitions as they relate to religion, climate change, GMOs, vaccines, flat earths, Illuminati, chem trails, the unassailable rightness of one’s tribe’s position and so on are disastrous for our group survival.
