Where the Magician Lives: An Ontological Problem in the Anthropology of Magic

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to outline a theoretical framework in which the anthropologist can introduce a naturalistic approach, which will not be conflicted with scientific discourses, into his ethnographic work. First of all, I argue that the principles of magic can be understood as a part of social cognitive causal chains, based on the ideas about a naturalistic social science developed by Dan Sperber. After that, I trace the history of computer science and cognitive psychology so as to demonstrate that the ontological status of the principles of magic is unclear, so long as they are understood as a mode of thought. Then, considering not only this ontological uncertainty also the realm of mystic experiences, I conceptualize the principles of magic not as a mode of thought but as interactive and experiential processes being generalized on several layers in the magician's superorganism.