The role of thinking in religious and magical interpretation of reality

Abstract

It is difficult to precisely point out elements which are characteristic solely for religion or solely for magic. Due to this, the objective factor seems to be insufficient in accurate determination of a demarcation criterion between religion and magic. Therefore, there is a necessity of looking for other criteria allowing for such distinction. Thinking, as a subjective and relational category, seems to be a good opportunity for overcoming this difficulty. Three types of thinking differentiated in the article (thinking in the area of a norm, borderland thinking and pathological thinking) enable initial indication of similarities and differences between religious and magical thinking. On the other hand, making references to the texts of Durkheim, Malinowski, Frazer, Goode, Sieradzan, Wypustek or Pindel, i.e. authors who dealt with the relation between religion and magic during ancient times, became a starting point for formulating 13 criteria which differentiate and, at the same time, characterize two styles of thinking: religious and magical.