Early beliefs and their social influence / by Edward Westermarck.

Edvard Westermarck

Date:: 1932

Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Early beliefs and their social influence / by Edward Westermarck. Source: Wellcome Collection.

19/200 page 7

when he sees an umbrella opened before him or a paper moving on the ground. The whip is well known to the horse, whereas the moving paper or the umbrella is strange, uncanny, let us say “ supernatural.” Dogs and cats are alarmed by an unusual noise or appearance, and remain uneasy till they have by examination satisfied themselves of the nature of its cause. Even a lion is scared by an unexpected sound or the sight of an unfamiliar object; and we are told of a tiger who stood trembling and roaring in a paroxysm of fear when a mouse tied by a string to a stick had been inserted into its cage. In full agreement with his general theory of magic, Frazer speaks of the “ radical conflict of principle between magic and religion.” He admits that there are instances of a “ fusion or confusion of magic with religion,” but this is, in his opinion, due rather to accident than to any organic affinity between them. He maintains that mankind first passed through an initial stage in which magic existed, but no religion (which I look upon as a doubtful proposition), and that religion arose in a later stage, when it was found that magic was ineffective, and people in consequence gave up their coercive attitude towards spiritual beings and began to propitiate them humbly by prayer and sacrifice, in order to get what they wanted. But he also speaks of an intermediate stage, in which religion, having arisen, co-operated and was to some extent confused with magic, since the functions of priest and sorcerer were often combined. To serve his purpose man wooed the goodwill of gods and spirits by prayer and sacrifice, while at the same time he had recourse to ceremonies and forms of words which he hoped would of themselves

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