CLCS 38500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Sigmund Freud, Polytheism, Animism
Document Summary
Fertility myth: sacred king has intercourse with earth goddess, sacred king kills himself or is sacrificed, sacred king becomes vegetation spirit , annual resurrection of vegetation spirit, ~ annual renewal of fertility. Animism (magic) polytheism (religion) monotheism (religion) science. Magic is purely practical, it is not theoretical. Ex. in greek culture this is called hieros gamos (ritualized sex) Thing image word (eat garlic hang garlic around neck wear amulet shaped like garlic write or say garlic: charles darwin: theory of evolution misinterpreted towards human culture. Ex. skull shape between different countries (beginning of racial stereotyping and nazi movement: sigmund freud: People who practice magic assume that the idea of something is just as real as the thing itself, so manipulation of an idea affects the thing itself. Omnipotence of thought: thinking about something makes it so. Victorian assumptions (common analogies): magic religion science or religion magic science primitive society advanced society childhood adulthood.
