Work · Sociology & Social Theory
Magic, Science and Religion
Essay arguing, against the idea of a “prelogical” primitive mentality, that Trobriand Islanders use careful empirical knowledge in gardening and fishing and turn to magic where chance and danger exceed it; religion helps people through death and other crises of life.
Introduction
The essay “Magic, Science and Religion” appeared in 1925 in “Science, Religion and Reality”, a volume edited by Joseph Needham; in 1948 Robert Redfield made it the title piece of a collection of Malinowski’s essays. Malinowski argued that no people lacks rational, empirical knowledge: Trobriand gardeners and fishermen know their soils, weather and tools and act on that knowledge. Magic, he held, is used where knowledge cannot ensure success: in the lagoon, where fishing is safe and reliable, there is no magic, while open-sea fishing, dangerous and uncertain, is surrounded by ritual. Religion, by contrast, he connected with the crises of life, above all death. The essay is one of the classic texts in the debate on the rationality of magic.
Connections
Builds on
- Argonauts of the Western Pacific1922 · Bronisław Malinowski
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