Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction
OUP Oxford (2010)
| Abstract | Witchcraft is a subject that fascinates us all, and everyone knows what a witch is - or do they? From childhood most of us develop a sense of the mysterious, malign person, usually an old woman. Historically, too, we recognize witch-hunting as a feature of pre-modern societies. But why do witches still feature so heavily in our cultures and consciousness? From Halloween to superstitions, and literary references such as Faust and even Harry Potter, witches still feature heavily in our society. In this Very Short Introduction Malcolm Gaskill challenges all of this, and argues that what we think we know is, in fact, wrong. Taking a historical perspective from the ancient world to contemporary paganism, Gaskill reveals how witchcraft has meant different things to different people and that in every age it has raised questions about the distinction between fantasy and reality, faith and proof. Telling stories, delving into court records, and challenging myths, Gaskill examines the witch-hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and explores the reinvention of witchcraft - as history, religion, fiction, and metaphor. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Buy the book | $10.16 direct from Amazon (15% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 9780199236954 019923695X | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesHeikki Saari (2001). On Believing in Witches. Philosophical Papers 30 (3):307-318.
Sophie B. Oluwole (1992). Witchcraft, Reincarnation and the God-Head: (Issues in African Philosophy). Excel Publishers.
B. Hallen (1986/1997). Knowledge, Belief, and Witchcraft: Analytic Experiments in African Philosophy. Stanford University Press.
Professof Franz Staab (1989). Witches and Belief in Witchcraft. Philosophy and History 22 (2):184-185.
F. Pellizzi (1969). Witches and Ghosts: Some Considerations On Navaho Witchcraft by Clyde Kluckhohn. Diogenes 17 (65):74-98.
Michael Weston (2010). Forms of Our Life: Wittgenstein and the Later Heidegger. Philosophical Investigations 33 (3):245-265.
John Arnold (2000). History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Brian Ribeiro (2009). Montaigne on Witches and the Authority of Religion in the Public Sphere. Philosophy and Literature 33 (2):pp. 235-251.
Mikel Burley (2012). Mounce and Winch on Understanding (or Not Understanding) an Indigenous Society. Philosophical Investigations 35 (3-4):350-372.
Mark S. Roberts (1994). On Constructing the Disorder of Hysteria. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 19 (3).
Albert Mosley (2001). Witchcraft, Science and the Skeptical Inquirer: Conversations with the Late Prof. Peter Bodunrin. Philosophical Papers 30 (3):289-306.
E. T. (1956). The History of Witchcraft and Demonology. The Review of Metaphysics 10 (2):371-371.
Otto Huth (1977). Possibilities of Criticism of Witchcraft and Magic in the Late Middle Ages. Contemporary Authors and Their Social Background. Philosophy and History 10 (2):255-255.
Michael J. Coughlan (1985). Zande Witchcraft. Sophia 24 (3).
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2012-01-31Total downloads0Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
