Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays

by Bronisław Malinowski

Book Overview

Magic Science and Religion is a book written by Bronislaw Malinowski, a renowned anthropologist. The book explores the relationship between magic, science, and religion in traditional societies.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• ISBN: B00005WBVH
• Release Date: January 1954
• Publisher: Doubleday Anchor
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Keeper

The service was prompt, the book was in excellent shape. I would definitely order here again. All in all, very pleased with this transaction! Michael W. Young's biography (2004)of Bronislaw Malinowski, with the Malinowski family's blessing and support, documents the anthropologist's personal and professional journey through life. Young's writing style positions, with a seemingly intended purpose, the reader in a distant, objective armchair pose while detailing the aspects of Malinowski's life. Considering the access Young had,the biography appears well-researched, and was fascinating to explore.

The Finest Story in the World

An easy way to discover one of the most important ethnologists, and what ethnology is about: studying "primitive" societies to find out the rules that govern ours. Two examples: religions tell groups how to help members facing difficult times take decisions that won't be detrimental to the community; myths make a community's guiding principles unquestionable (in the 19th century when "nationalities" were invented they were given ancestors and histories).

Malinowski's "Magic, Science, and Religion"

The title essay was probably the single most influential article written by Bronislaw Malinowski. This 1992 reprint edition from Waveland Press is most welcome. The ideas in this essay have become so commonplace in anthropology that nobody seems to find it necessary to refer back to their original source in Malinowski. The essay itself is lively and still sounds fresh some three-quarters of a century after it was written. Malinowski is convincing when he points to ways that magic, science, and religion are closely related. After reading his insights, it isn't possible to consider that any one of them should always be given priority over the other two in our ways of thinking about the universe. Read this book and you'll learn some of the reasons why people try to solve their problems by choosing magic, science, or religion according to the specific circumstances in which they find themselves.