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A more neutral term is "sympathetic magic"[1] (also called "imitative magic") which seems to be somewhat of a cross-cultural human universal. At is core, it is
by dudeinjapan 2y ago
A more neutral term is "sympathetic magic"[1] (also called "imitative magic") which seems to be somewhat of a cross-cultural human universal. At is core, it is the belief that if person/thing X does Y action to get Z result, and I mimic X by also doing Y, then I will also get Z.
In some cases it's a confusion be correlation and causality.
Aspects of "sympathetic magic" are definitely present the quasi-religious beliefs of cargo cults (John Frum, etc. [2]), granted they are also political and social movements.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic
2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frum
- turbojet1321 2y ago> In some cases it's a confusion be correlation and causality. I wouldn't say confusion. If you read Ramsey Dukes for example, a magician focusing on correlation rather than causation is the whole point. The belief is that a) there are non-causal aspects to existence; and b) it doesn't matter why it works, so long as it works. That is, according to Dukes, a magician is intentionally uninterested in causation, and leaves it for the scientists to worry about.
- dudeinjapan 2y ago[dead]