
Magic and Science: Two Worlds Apart?

- 4:00 pm-6:00pm
- Location:
Room 173, University Centre
6331 Crescent Rd.
Vancouver, BC
The storylines of some of the best known epics in Western culture (e.g. Parzival and Tristan) involve magical events. However, a widespread opinion still claims that magical thinking and practices only survived on the margins during the Christian Middle Ages. A general view also has it that magical thinking stands in opposition to science and rationality. Arguing against such views, this talk will introduce a definition of magic as a way of conceptualizing the world. These conceptual relationships can be detected, explored and applied through various practices, some of which are comparable to empirical scientific methods.