Decoding cultural discourse with cognitive science Cognitivist approaches to religion can analyse the use of supernatural rhetoric to frame the articulation of moral norms. This is a recurrent topic in literary, intellectual and political discourses. Climate Change and Environment © Thinkstock An EU-funded project, MARKSOFSPECTRES (Marks of spectres: Mind, morality, and religion in cultural discourse) delved into the ways in which secular discourse links the supernatural with morality. This was achieved through four case studies which focused on Indo-European narrative, nineteenth-century fiction, psychoanalytic discourse and European political rhetoric respectively. Research consisted of three stems of objectives: knowledge, training and socioeconomic. Knowledge objectives utilised various disciplines and methodologies and involved collaboration between science and the humanities. This allowed for extensive conclusion on research topics concerning secular literature, popular genres and the human representation of other states of mind. Professional and research training was also successful in that it expanded the researcher’s professional skill-set. Socio-economic objectives consisted of three prongs: the climate science debate, European space science, and commercial activity. Impact of the research is continuously evolving, yet it has resulted in new reference points for future research to take place which can ultimately have a significant impact on cognitive science. Keywords Religion, supernatural rhetoric, moral norms, secular literature, socio-economic objectives
