Extended Cognition, Virtue Epistemology and Religious Faith: a Tripartite Conceptual Framework to Understand and Promote Human Flourishing

Goal

Human flourishing cannot be approached by a single perspective since it depends on many factors, especially the interplay of fundamental aspects such as contextual apprehension of and positive attitude towards reality, development of personal virtues and adherence to a belief system that generates existential meaning.
The first point has to do with the extended nature of the mind, which is constituted and enhanced by the way we functionally relate to and incorporate aspects of our physical and social environments. Given a specific cognitive and existential context, "the successful exercise of one's intellectual virtues is both intrinsically good and constitutive of human flourishing" [1]. Other fundamental aspects are the sense of belonging and purpose. The participation of a religious community is recognized as the source of a wide diversity of manifestations associated with human flourishing, such as "happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships". [2]
Thus, it is proposed the development of a line of research aiming to establish a conceptual framework, aggregating contributions from these three areas, extended cognition, virtue epistemology and religious faith, to be used as a theoretical tool to study, understand and promote human flourishing.

Opportunity

Although we propose to combine relatively incipient fields (even for the age-old question of faith, we are thinking of recent approaches), these are sufficiently mature to face the problem in question. There are already publications at the interface between extended cognition and religious faith, and a little less material at the other two interfaces - excluding classic approaches to the virtue-spirituality relationship, as we envisage contemporary perspectives.
The great novelty would be to investigate human flourishing from the encounter between three ways of apprehending reality, namely science, philosophy and religion, represented by cognitive sciences, epistemology of virtue and religious studies.

Roadblocks

Certainly, there are intellectual challenges in each of the three areas mentioned, but the idea of bringing them together in view of a common problem (human flourishing) constitutes an interesting strategy for mutual stimulation and cross-fertilization. There can be no doubt that, with adequate human and material resources, important advances can be achieved.
The biggest challenge will most likely come from the translational phase of the project, when new practices and interventions should be made available for implementation in real life. How would one know if the established understanding of human flourishing would be applicable to different societies and cultures?

Breakthroughs Needed

One of the great challenges would be building conceptual bridges between the three areas mentioned above with a view to creating means for effective and fruitful collaboration. In addition, there is a major difficulty related to the translational aspect mentioned above.
The very concept of human flourishing is a local, contextual, and contingent construct, dependent on many variables (personal, economic, social, cultural, etc.). Most studies on human flourishing, virtues, and happiness are conducted in the northern hemisphere and correspond to this macro-region perspective. It is questionable whether conclusions of such studies would be truly applicable worldwide.
In view of this, the theoretical tools mentioned above would be developed from studies carried out in concrete situations where some type of human flourishing is evidently occurring. These concrete situations would be strategically chosen in different societies and regions of the planet.
Consider, for instance, the extremely interesting phenomenon presently occurring in Brazil, where a traditionally Catholic country is on track to become predominantly evangelical-Protestant in a few years. Why is this happening? Some data and information give us reason to believe that the main driver for this transformation may be, in fact, the human flourishing factor.

Key Indicators of Success

3 years - Good audience at conferences and workshops. Demonstrated ability to attract technical competence for these events. Achieve high quality proposals for subgrants.
5 years - Having demonstrated the ability to successfully address the issues raised for topical investigations and fieldwork.
10 years - Having successfully implemented pilot programs worldwide aiming to promote a culture of human flourishing.
Failures would certainly not have been able to achieve those goals.

Additional Information

References:
[1] https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-virtue/
[2] doi: 10.1177/0963721417721526
[3] https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12025
[4] https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203101742
[5] https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12026

Collaborators:
- Warren S. Brown (Fuller Theological Seminary)
- Alister McGrath (Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford University)
- Andrew Pinsent (Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford University)
- Fraser Watts (International Society for Science and Religion)
- Justin Barrett (Fuller Theological Seminary)