A Cognitive Theory Of Magic

Download A Cognitive Theory Of Magic full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online A Cognitive Theory Of Magic ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

A Cognitive Theory of Magic

Author : Jesper Sørensen
Publisher : Rowman Altamira
ISBN 13 : 9780759110403
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis A Cognitive Theory of Magic by : Jesper Sørensen

Download or read book A Cognitive Theory of Magic written by Jesper Sørensen and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2007 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magic is a universal phenomenon. Everywhere we look people perform ritual actions in which desirable qualities are transferred by means of physical contact and objects or persons are manipulated by things of their likeness. In this book S rensen embraces a cognitive perspective in order to investigate this long-established but controversial topic. Following a critique of the traditional approaches to magic, and basing his claims on classical ethnographic cases, the author explains magic's universality by examining a number of recurrent cognitive processes underlying its different manifestations. He focuses on how power is infused into the ritual practice; how representations of contagion and similarity can be used to connect otherwise distinct objects in order to manipulate one by the other; and how the performance of ritual prompts representations of magical actions as effective. Bringing these features together, the author proposes a cognitive theory of how people can represent magical rituals as purposeful actions and how ritual actions are integrated into more complex representations of events. This explanation, in turn, yields new insights into the constitutive role of magic in the formation of institutionalised religious ritual.

Magic in Theory

Author : Peter Lamont
Publisher : Univ of Hertfordshire Press
ISBN 13 : 1902806506
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (28 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Magic in Theory by : Peter Lamont

Download or read book Magic in Theory written by Peter Lamont and published by Univ of Hertfordshire Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A useful manual for any magician or curious spectator who wonders why the tricks seem so real, this guide examines the psychological aspects of a magician’s work. Exploring the ways in which human psychology plays into the methods of conjuring rather than focusing on the individual tricks alone, this explanation of the general principles of magic includes chapters on the use of misdirection, sleight of hand, and reconstruction, provides a better understanding of this ancient art, and offers a section on psychics that warns of their deceptive magic skills.

Experiencing the Impossible

Author : Gustav Kuhn
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026203946X
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Experiencing the Impossible by : Gustav Kuhn

Download or read book Experiencing the Impossible written by Gustav Kuhn and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the scientific study of magic reveals intriguing—and often unsettling—insights into the mysteries of the human mind. What do we see when we watch a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat or read a person's mind? We are captivated by an illusion; we applaud the fact that we have been fooled. Why do we enjoy experiencing what seems clearly impossible, or at least beyond our powers of explanation? In Experiencing the Impossible, Gustav Kuhn examines the psychological processes that underpin our experience of magic. Kuhn, a psychologist and a magician, reveals the intriguing—and often unsettling—insights into the human mind that the scientific study of magic provides.Magic, Kuhn explains, creates a cognitive conflict between what we believe to be true (for example, a rabbit could not be in that hat) and what we experience (a rabbit has just come out of that hat!). Drawing on the latest psychological, neurological, and philosophical research, he suggests that misdirection is at the heart of all magic tricks, and he offers a scientific theory of misdirection. He explores, among other topics, our propensity for magical thinking, the malleability of our perceptual experiences, forgetting and misremembering, free will and mind control, and how magic is applied outside entertaiment—the use of illusion in human-computer interaction, politics, warfare, and elsewhere. We may be surprised to learn how little of the world we actually perceive, how little we can trust what we see and remember, and how little we are in charge of our thoughts and actions. Exploring magic, Kuhn illuminates the complex—and almost magical—mechanisms underlying our daily activities.

Sound and Communication

Author : Annette Wilke
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
ISBN 13 : 3110240033
Total Pages : 1137 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Sound and Communication by : Annette Wilke

Download or read book Sound and Communication written by Annette Wilke and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-01-28 with total page 1137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Hindu India both orality and sonality have enjoyed great cultural significance since earliest times. They have a distinct influence on how people approach texts. The importance of sound and its perception has led to rites, models of cosmic order, and abstract formulas. Sound serves both to stimulate religious feelings and to give them a sensory form. Starting from the perception and interpretation of sound, the authors chart an unorthodox cultural history of India, turning their attention to an important, but often neglected aspect of daily religious life. They provide a stimulating contribution to the study of cultural systems of perception that also adds new aspects to the debate on orality and literality.

Magic, Miracles, and Religion

Author : Ilkka Pyysiäinen
Publisher : Rowman Altamira
ISBN 13 : 0759115567
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (591 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Magic, Miracles, and Religion by : Ilkka Pyysiäinen

Download or read book Magic, Miracles, and Religion written by Ilkka Pyysiäinen and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2004-06-03 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can scientists study religion? Ilkka PyysiSinen says that they can. While the study of religion cannot be reduced to other disciplines, it must not ignore what other disciplines have learned about human thought and behavior. In this collection of essays, PyysiSinen shows how findings from cognitive science can offer new directions to debates in religion. After providing a historical and theoretical overview of the cognitive science of religion, PyysiSinen demonstrates how knowledge of the mind's workings can help deconstruct such concepts as 'god,' 'ideology,' 'culture,' 'magic,' 'miracles,' and 'religion.' For scholars of religion or for scholars of the mind-brain, Magic, Miracles, and Religion provides a helpful overview to this emerging field.

Mind, Morality and Magic

Author : Istvan Czachesz
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317544404
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Mind, Morality and Magic by : Istvan Czachesz

Download or read book Mind, Morality and Magic written by Istvan Czachesz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cognitive science of religion that has emerged over the last twenty years is a multidisciplinary field that often challenges established theories in anthropology and comparative religion. This new approach raises many questions for biblical studies as well. What are the cross-cultural cognitive mechanisms which explain the transmission of biblical texts? How did the local and particular cultural traditions of ancient Israel and early Christianity develop? What does the embodied and socially embedded nature of the human mind imply for the exegesis of biblical texts? "Mind, Morality and Magic" draws on a range of approaches to the study of the human mind - including memory studies, computer modeling, cognitive theories of ritual, social cognition, evolutionary psychology, biology of emotions, and research on religious experience. The volume explores how cognitive approaches to religion can shed light on classical concerns in biblical scholarship - such as the transmission of traditions, ritual and magic, and ethics - as well as uncover new questions and offer new methodologies.

Stolen Lightning

Author : Daniel Lawrence O'Keefe
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 9780394716343
Total Pages : 598 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (163 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Stolen Lightning by : Daniel Lawrence O'Keefe

Download or read book Stolen Lightning written by Daniel Lawrence O'Keefe and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1983 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interdisciplinary investigation of the role of magic in human societies, past and present, asserts that magic remains an important element in contemporary civilizations

Savage Theory

Author : Rachel O. Moore
Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780822323884
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (238 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Savage Theory by : Rachel O. Moore

Download or read book Savage Theory written by Rachel O. Moore and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ambitious and original work which uses early film theory, anthropological insights, and avant--garde film to explore the relation of cinema to ritual healing.

Functions of Psalms and Prayers in the Late Second Temple Period

Author : Mika S. Pajunen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 3110449269
Total Pages : 516 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Functions of Psalms and Prayers in the Late Second Temple Period by : Mika S. Pajunen

Download or read book Functions of Psalms and Prayers in the Late Second Temple Period written by Mika S. Pajunen and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2017-07-24 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When thinking about psalms and prayers in the Second Temple period, the Masoretic Psalter and its reception is often given priority because of modern academic or theological interests. This emphasis tends to skew our understanding of the corpus we call psalms and prayers and often dampens or mutes the lived context within which these texts were composed and used. This volume is comprised of a collection of articles that explore the diverse settings in which psalms and prayers were used and circulated in the late Second Temple period. The book includes essays by experts in the Hebrew bible, the Dead Sea scrolls, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and the New Testament, in which a wide variety of topics, approaches, and methods both old and new are utilized to explore the many functions of psalms and prayers in the late Second Temple period. Included in this volume are essays examining how psalms were read as prophecy, as history, as liturgy, and as literature. A variety methodologies are employed, and include the use of cognitive sciences and poetics, linguistic theory, psychology, redaction criticism, and literary theory.

Magic in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean

Author : Nina Nikki
Publisher : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN 13 : 364752218X
Total Pages : 332 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (475 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Magic in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean by : Nina Nikki

Download or read book Magic in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean written by Nina Nikki and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magic in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean: Cognitive, Historical, and Material Perspectives brings together articles with the shared conviction that the category of magic remains useful in religious studies and provides new insights to biblical and related texts and artifacts. Historically, magic has been considered in both scholarly and popular discourse to be questionable, obscure, and potentially subversive. 19th century scholars of religion viewed magical beliefs and practices as primitive and inferior compared to Judeo-Christian forms of worship, which were considered true "religion". More recently, the category has been defended especially by scholars of the cognitive science of religion, who find it useful for delineating a set of beliefs and practices fundamental to all forms of religion. The volume joins current scholarship in refraining from using the concept as an othering device and in arguing that it can still serve as a helpful analytical tool. In addition to analyzing the discourse on magic in both ancient literature and modern scholarship, the articles provide individual examples of how literary and material culture attest to the existence of magical beliefs and practices in sources from the Ancient Near East to the Byzantine Period. The book is divided into three parts. The contributions in the first part approach magic from the theoretical perspective of cognitive studies, ritual studies, and cultural evolution, while the rest of the book focuses on how magic and magicians are understood in ancient sources. The second part discusses a specific set of textual material dealing with blessings and curses. The third part of the volume discusses the world of various destructive celestial beings, from which one and one's loved ones had to be defended, as well as the multitude of protective beings such as angels.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual

Author : Risto Uro
Publisher : Oxford Handbooks
ISBN 13 : 019874787X
Total Pages : 753 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (987 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual by : Risto Uro

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual written by Risto Uro and published by Oxford Handbooks. This book was released on 2019 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars of religion have long assumed that ritual and belief constitute the fundamental building blocks of religious traditions and that these two components of religion are interrelated and interdependent in significant ways. Generations of New Testament and Early Christian scholars have produced detailed analyses of the belief systems of nascent Christian communities, including their ideological and political dimensions, but have by and large ignored ritual as an important element of early Christian religion and as a factor contributing to the rise and the organization of the movement. In recent years, however, scholars of early Christianity have begun to use ritual as an analytical tool for describing and explaining Christian origins and the early history of the movement. Such a development has created a momentum toward producing a more comprehensive volume on the ritual world of Early Christianity employing advances made in the field of ritual studies. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Ritual gives a manifold account of the ritual world of early Christianity from the beginning of the movement up to the end of the fifth century. The volume introduces relevant theories and approaches; central topics of ritual life in the cultural world of early Christianity; and important Christian ritual themes and practices in emerging Christian groups and factions.

Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic

Author : Jesper Sørensen
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 900444758X
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic by : Jesper Sørensen

Download or read book Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic written by Jesper Sørensen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-05-03 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of Divination and Magic ten leading scholars of religion provide up-to-date investigations into these classic domains from historical, anthropological, cognitive, philosophical and theoretical perspectives.

Magic: A Very Short Introduction

Author : Owen Davies
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191623881
Total Pages : 153 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Magic: A Very Short Introduction by : Owen Davies

Download or read book Magic: A Very Short Introduction written by Owen Davies and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-01-26 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches

Author : Peter Antes
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
ISBN 13 : 3110211718
Total Pages : 505 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (12 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches by : Peter Antes

Download or read book Textual, Comparative, Sociological, and Cognitive Approaches written by Peter Antes and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2008-12-19 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since its founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

Religion as Magical Ideology

Author : Konrad Talmont-Kaminski
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317544730
Total Pages : 177 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Religion as Magical Ideology by : Konrad Talmont-Kaminski

Download or read book Religion as Magical Ideology written by Konrad Talmont-Kaminski and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-10-20 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Religion as Magical Ideology' examines the relationship between rationality and supernatural beliefs arguing that such beliefs are products of evolution, cognition and culture. The book does not offer a false rapprochement between reason and religion; instead, it explores their interrelationship as a series of complex adaptations between cognitive and cultural processes. Exploring the nature of the tension between religious traditions and reason, 'Religion as Magical Ideology' develops a dual inheritance theory of religion - which combines the cognitive byproduct and prosocial adaptation accounts - and analyses the connection between the function of a belief and the degree of protection it gets from potential counter-evidence. With discussion ranging from individual cognitive mechanisms, general functional considerations, to the limits of evolutionary and cognitive processes, the book offers readers a systematic account of how cognition shapes religious beliefs and practices.

The Routledge History of Medieval Magic

Author : Sophie Page
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317042751
Total Pages : 550 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Routledge History of Medieval Magic by : Sophie Page

Download or read book The Routledge History of Medieval Magic written by Sophie Page and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Routledge History of Medieval Magic brings together the work of scholars from across Europe and North America to provide extensive insights into recent developments in the study of medieval magic between c.1100 and c.1500. This book covers a wide range of topics, including the magical texts which circulated in medieval Europe, the attitudes of intellectuals and churchmen to magic, the ways in which magic intersected with other aspects of medieval culture, and the early witch trials of the fifteenth century. In doing so, it offers the reader a detailed look at the impact that magic had within medieval society, such as its relationship to gender roles, natural philosophy, and courtly culture. This is furthered by the book’s interdisciplinary approach, containing chapters dedicated to archaeology, literature, music, and visual culture, as well as texts and manuscripts. The Routledge History of Medieval Magic also outlines how research on this subject could develop in the future, highlighting under-explored subjects, unpublished sources, and new approaches to the topic. It is the ideal book for both established scholars and students of medieval magic.

The King in Orange

Author : John Michael Greer
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1644112590
Total Pages : 253 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (441 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The King in Orange by : John Michael Greer

Download or read book The King in Orange written by John Michael Greer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • Details the magical war that took place behind the scenes of the 2016 election • Examines in detail the failed magical actions of Trump’s opponents, with insights on political magic from Dion Fortune’s war letters • Reveals the influence of a number of occult forces from Julius Evola to chaos magick to show how the political and magical landscape of American society has permanently changed since the 2016 election Magic and politics seem like unlikely bedfellows, but in The King in Orange, author John Michael Greer goes beyond superficial memes and extreme partisanship to reveal the unmentionable realities that spawned the unexpected presidential victory of an elderly real-estate mogul turned reality-TV star and which continue to drive the deepening divide that is now the defining characteristic of American society. Greer convincingly shows how two competing schools of magic were led to contend for the presidency in 2016 and details the magical war that took place behind the scenes of the campaign. Through the influence of a number of occult forces, from Julius Evola to chaos magicians as well as the cult of positive thinking, Greer shows that the main contenders in this magical war were the status quo magical state--as defined by the late scholar Ioan Couliano--which has repurposed the “manipulative magic” techniques of the Renaissance magi into the subliminal techniques of modern advertising, and an older, deeper, and less reasonable form of magic--the “magic of the excluded”--which was employed by chaos magicians and alt-right internet wizards, whose desires coalesced in the form of a frog avatar that led the assault against the world we knew. Examining in detail the magical actions of Trump’s opponents, with insights on political magic from occultist Dion Fortune’s war letters, the author discusses how the magic of the privileged has functioned to keep the comfortable classes from being able to respond effectively to the populist challenge and how and why the “Magic Resistance,” which tried to turn magic against Trump, has failed. Showing how the political and magical landscape of American society has permanently changed since the 2016 election cycle, Greer reveals that understanding the coming of the King in Orange will be a crucial step in making sense of the world for a long time to come.