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Superstition
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Superstition : A Very Short Introduction
Do you touch wood for luck, or avoid hotel rooms on floor thirteen?Would you cross the path of a black cat, or step under a ladder?Is breaking a mirror just an expensive waste of glass, or something rather more sinister?Despite the dominance of science in today's world, superstitious beliefs - both traditional and new - remain surprisingly popular.A recent survey of adults in the United States found that 33 percent believed that finding a penny was good luck, and 23 percent believed that the number seven was lucky.Where did these superstitions come from, and why do they persist today?This Very Short Introduction explores the nature and surprising history of superstition from antiquity to the present.For two millennia, superstition was a label derisively applied to foreign religions and unacceptable religious practices, and its primary purpose was used to separate groups and assert religious and social authority.After the Enlightenment, the superstition label was still used to define groups, but the new dividing line was between reason and unreason.Today, despite our apparent sophistication and technological advances, superstitious belief and behaviour remain widespread, and highly educated people are not immune.Stuart Vyse takes an exciting look at the varieties of popular superstitious beliefs today and the psychological reasons behind their continued existence, as well as the likely future course of superstition in our increasingly connected world.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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Kew: The Psychedelic Garden : Mind-altering plants in folklore, superstition and popular culture
The ancient Aztecs, the cannabis-smoking farmers of Neolithic China and the Woodstock hippies.Psychoactive plants have been used by different cultures for thousands of years for everything from shamanic rituals to staying awake. From the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Sandra Lawrence, Psychedelics is a fascinating exploration of the mind-altering plants that for centuries have helped shape the way we see the world.Packed with expert text and stunning botanical illustrations from the Kew archive, this book delves into the folklore, cultural relevance and botanical background of remarkable plants that have long been leveraged to hallucinogenic effect. A gorgeous gifty package, this book is both a beautifully illustrated botanical history and quirky cultural reference for plant lovers everywhere.
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Nordic Terrors : Scandinavian Superstition in British Gothic Literature
In late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British literature, Scandinavia emerged as a setting for Gothic terror.This book explores the extensive use of Nordic superstition as it provided a vocabulary for Gothic texts, examining the cultural significance these references held for writers exploring Britain’s northern heritage.In Gothic publications, Nordic superstition sometimes parallels the representations of Catholicism, allowing writers to gloat at its phantasms and delusions.Thus, runic spells, incantations, and necromantic communications (of which Norse tradition afforded many examples) could replace practices usually assigned to Catholic superstition.Yet Nordic lore did more than merely supplant hackneyed Gothic formulas; it presented readers with an alternative conception of ‘Otherness’.Nordic texts—chiefly based on the Edda and the supernatural Scandinavian ballad tradition—were seen as pre-Christian beliefs of the Gothic (i.e., Germanic) peoples, including the Anglo-Saxons.The book traces the development of this Nordic Gothic, situating it within wider literary, historical, political, and cultural contexts.
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Is astrology superstition?
Astrology is often considered a form of superstition as it involves the belief that the positions and movements of celestial bodies can influence human affairs and natural phenomena. While some people find comfort and guidance in astrology, others view it as a pseudoscience lacking empirical evidence. Ultimately, whether astrology is seen as superstition or a legitimate practice is subjective and varies depending on individual beliefs and perspectives.
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Is superstition true?
Superstition is not based on evidence or rational thinking, so it is not considered true in a scientific sense. Superstitions are often based on cultural beliefs, traditions, or personal experiences, but they do not have any proven causal relationship with the events they are associated with. While superstitions may hold significance for some individuals or communities, they are not considered to be objectively true or reliable.
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What is superstition?
Superstition is a belief or practice that is irrational and is not based on reason or scientific knowledge. It often involves attributing supernatural or magical powers to certain objects, actions, or occurrences. Superstitions can vary widely between cultures and individuals, and they are often used as a way to explain or control uncertain or uncontrollable events. Despite lacking evidence or logical reasoning, superstitions can still hold significant influence over people's behavior and decisions.
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Is humanism a superstition?
No, humanism is not a superstition. Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively. It focuses on reason, ethics, and justice, and rejects supernatural beliefs. Humanism is based on rational thought and evidence, and it promotes critical thinking and the use of scientific methods to understand the world. Therefore, it is not a superstition but a rational and evidence-based approach to understanding and improving the human condition.
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Thought under Threat : On Superstition, Spite, and Stupidity
Thought under Threat reveals and combats the forces diminishing the power and role of critical thinking, whether in our individual lives or collectively. Thought under Threat is an attempt to understand the tendencies that threaten thinking from within.These tendencies have always existed. But today they are on the rise and frequently encouraged, even in our democracies.People “disagree” with science and distrust experts.Political leaders appeal to the hearts and guts of “the people,” rather than their critical faculties.Stupidity has become a right, if not a badge of honor; superstition is on the rise; and spite is a major political force.Thinking is considered “elitist.” To see those obstacles as vices of thought, Miguel de Beistegui argues, we need to understand stupidity not as a lack of intelligence or judgment, but as the tendency to raise false problems and trivial questions.Similarly, we need to see spite not as a moral vice, but as a poison that blurs and distorts our critical faculties.Finally, superstition is best described not as a set of false beliefs, but as a system that neutralizes one’s ability to think for oneself. For de Beistegui, thinking is intrinsically democratic and a necessary condition for the exercise of freedom.Thought under Threat shows how a training of thought itself can be used to ward off those vices, lead to productive deliberation, and, ultimately, create a thinking community.
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The Last Superstition – A Refutation of the New Atheism
The central contention of the “New Atheism” of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens is that there has for several centuries been a war between science and religion, that religion has been steadily losing that war, and that at this point in human history a completely secular scientific account of the world has been worked out in such thorough and convincing detail that there is no longer any reason why a rational and educated person should find the claims of any religion the least bit worthy of attention. But as Edward Feser argues inThe Last Superstition, in fact there is not, and never has been, any war between science and religion at all.There has instead been a conflict between two entirely philosophical conceptions of the natural order: on the one hand, the classical “teleological” vision of Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, on which purpose or goal-directedness is as inherent a feature of the physical world as mass or electric charge; and the modern “mechanical” vision of Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume, according to which the physical world is comprised of nothing more than purposeless, meaningless particles in motion.As it happens, on the classical teleological picture, the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and the natural-law conception of morality are rationally unavoidable.Modern atheism and secularism have thus always crucially depended for their rational credentials on the insinuation that the modern, mechanical picture of the world has somehow been established by science.Yet this modern “mechanical” picture has never been established by science, and cannot be, for it is not a scientific theory in the first place but merely a philosophical interpretation of science.Moreover, as Feser shows, the philosophical arguments in its favor given by the early modern philosophers were notable only for being surprisingly weak.The true reasons for its popularity were then, and are now, primarily political: It was a tool by which the intellectual foundations of ecclesiastical authority could be undermined and the way opened toward a new secular and liberal social order oriented toward commerce and technology.So as to further these political ends, it was simply stipulated, by fiat as it were, that no theory inconsistent with the mechanical picture of the world would be allowed to count as “scientific.” As the centuries have worn on and historical memory has dimmed, this act of dogmatic stipulation has falsely come to be remembered as a “discovery.”However, not only is this modern philosophical picture rationally unfounded, it is demonstrably false.For the “mechanical” conception of the natural world, when worked out consistently, absurdly entails that rationality, and indeed the human mind itself, are illusory.The so-called “scientific worldview” championed by the New Atheists thus inevitably undermines its own rational foundations; and into the bargain (and contrary to the moralistic posturing of the New Atheists) it undermines the foundations of any possible morality as well.By contrast, and as The Last Superstition demonstrates, the classical teleological picture of nature can be seen to find powerful confirmation in developments from contemporary philosophy, biology, and physics; moreover, morality and reason itself cannot possibly be made sense of apart from it.The teleological vision of the ancients and medievals is thereby rationally vindicated – and with it the religious worldview they based upon it.
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Superstition and Science : Mystics, sceptics, truth-seekers and charlatans
'A dazzling chronicle, a bracing challenge to modernity's smug assumptions' - Bryce Christensen, Booklist'O what a world of profit and delightOf power, of honour and omnipotenceIs promised to the studious artisan.'Christopher Marlowe, Dr FaustusBetween the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, Europe changed out of all recognition.Particularly transformative was the ardent quest for knowledge and the astounding discoveries and inventions which resulted from it.The movement of blood round the body; the movement of the earth round the sun; the velocity of falling objects (and, indeed, why objects fall) - these and numerous other mysteries had been solved by scholars in earnest pursuit of scientia.This fascinating account of the profound changes undergone by Europe between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment will cover ground including folk religion and its pagan past; Catholicism and its saintly dogma; alchemy, astrology and natural philosophy; Islamic and Jewish traditions; and the discovery of new countries and cultures. By the mid-seventeenth century 'science mania' had set in; the quest for knowledge had become a pursuit of cultured gentlemen.In 1663 The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge received its charter.Three years later the French Academy of Sciences was founded.Most other European capitals were not slow to follow suit.In 1725 we encounter the first use of the word 'science' meaning 'a branch of study concerned either with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classified'.Yet, it was only nine years since the last witch had been executed in Britain - a reminder that, although the relationship of people to their environment was changing profoundly, deep-rooted fears and attitudes remained strong.
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Supersense : From Superstition to Religion - The Brain Science of Belief
Why is it that Tony Blair always wore the same pair of shoes when answering Prime Minister's Questions?That John McEnroe notoriously refused to step on the white lines of a tennis court between points? And that President-elect Barack Obama played a game of basketball the morning of his victory in the Iowa primary, and continued the tradition the day of every following primary?Superstitious habits are common. Do you ever cross your fingers, knock on wood, avoid walking under ladders, or step around black cats?Sentimental value often supersedes material worth. If someone offered to replace your childhood teddy bear or wedding ring with a brand new, exact replica, would you do it?How about £20 for trying on a jumper owned by Fred West?Where do such feelings come from and why do most of us have them?Humans are born with brains designed to make sense of the world and that need for an explanation can lead to beliefs that go beyond reason.To be true they would have to be supernatural. With scientific education we learn that such beliefs are irrational but at an intuitive level they can be resistant to reason or lie dormant in otherwise sensible adults. It now seems unlikely that any effort to get rid of supernatural beliefs or superstitious behaviours will be completely successful.This is not all bad news - such beliefs are a useful glue that binds us together as a society. Combining brilliant insight with witty example Hood weaves a page-turning account of our 'supersense' that navigates a path through brain science, child development, popular culture, mental illness and the paranormal.After reading SuperSense, you will realize why you are not as reasonable as you might like to think - and why that might be no bad thing.
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Is astrology really superstition?
Astrology is often considered a form of superstition because it is based on the belief that the positions and movements of celestial bodies can influence human affairs and natural phenomena. However, many people find meaning and guidance in astrology, and it has been practiced for centuries in various cultures. While astrology may not have scientific evidence to support its claims, it can still provide comfort, insight, and a sense of connection to the universe for those who believe in it. Ultimately, whether astrology is considered superstition or not is a matter of personal belief and perspective.
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What does superstition mean?
Superstition refers to a belief or practice that is based on fear of the unknown or irrational beliefs in supernatural forces. It often involves attributing magical or mystical significance to certain actions, objects, or occurrences. Superstitions can vary widely across different cultures and can influence people's behavior and decision-making. While some superstitions may have cultural or historical significance, they are generally not based on empirical evidence or rational reasoning.
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Is it superstition or truth?
It is difficult to definitively say whether something is superstition or truth without proper evidence and scientific backing. Many beliefs that are considered superstitions may have originated from cultural traditions or personal experiences, but without empirical evidence, they cannot be considered truth. It is important to approach such beliefs with an open mind and seek out reliable information to determine their validity. Ultimately, the distinction between superstition and truth depends on the evidence and reasoning behind the belief.
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Does that count as superstition?
Yes, that could be considered superstition. Superstition is the belief in supernatural causality, often resulting in irrational behavior. If the action in question is based on a belief in luck or a supernatural force influencing the outcome, then it could be considered a superstition.
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