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.
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