The Presence of Witchcraft Accusations and Confessions - Essay Example

Witchcraft         The use of psychic power alone in order to commit some type of deed, whether good or bad is known as witch craft. In long-established societies , this word is the same as sorcery. But there is a difference made between them made by people who lessons the precepts prepared by these interesting people. These sorcerers are well-known for manipulating objects, on the other hand witches require just to think a thought and turn the emotions into a positive or evil deed. Different types of cultures have different characteristics, they point towars witches and the ways these witches cause harm or benefit to people (Evans, Press).         A theory behind apparent differing mentalities between primitive and modern societies (Lloyd, Press) identifies pre logical mentality being the main feature of thought of primitive societies, and that is the main difference between the logical and scientific thought made in advanced societies. Lloyd classed this as the primitive mentality’. He believed that the method of European thought was to seek natural causes to phenomena, and anything that could not be related to natural causes was put down to a lack of knowledge. To people in a primitive society, the cause of such phenomena would to them be supernatural (Evans, 108 ).         On evidence from ethnographical study, it is seen that primitive people often make statements that would be seen as paradoxical to a science based society e.g. the Nuer from central Africa believe twins are birds (Lloyd, Press). One must decide whether such statements are literal or metaphorical. According to some population, they believe that the leopard is a Christian animal observing the fasts of the Ethiopian Orthodox church. They do not see this as a matter of speaking, they take this literally. It would be wrong to see the thought processes of primitive people and compare them to modern peoples beliefs without taking into account the social and environmental background within which each group are contained, for this has a direct influence on the separate mentalities drawn.         In an article on African traditional thought and western science, Robin Horton (2001, 50) presents his theory that the two are related. He mainly tackles the aspect of primitive society that is seen to be the most absurd my western societies; magic and witchcraft. Horton writes how when people fall ill they visit a diviner. When faced with a disease, the diviner will not only refer to the spiritual agent causing the illness, but will also cite a material, visible reason for the spirits actions. This can be seen in another study of the Ndembu people of Africa. The diviner not only relates a patients condition to an unseen spirit, but also relates the illness to whole series of social disturbances. Could it be that the diviner is taking the place reserved for psychologists in western societies, who try to relate patients problems to social problems they are facing? One might say that a person only visits a psychologist when faced with a mental illness caused by stress experienced in the western lifestyle. People believe this stress is not reflected in primitive societies. Horton cites reason to contradict this thinking, including the fact that in primitive societies it is much harder to move out of the area where the trouble originated, and also the fact that people have no choice in the position they hold in a society, which therefore leads to a high number of social misfits. These stressful conditions mean the belief that social causation of illness in primitive societies is justified and in direct comparison to socially initiated illness in western societies.         Similar to the literal-metaphorical dichotomy mentioned previously, a common sense and theory dichotomy can be used to compare mentalities in different societies. Both European and African societies most adopt common sense in their thought processes, because it is more economically viable and ultimately deals with a very wide range of thought (Horton, 61). In some instances however, a wider vision is needed, leading to the formulation of theory. This can be illustrated looking at the Kalabari in the Niger delta in Africa. The sick do not instantly go to a diviner for help. Often family members or a native doctor are used because the patient has recognized symptoms and there are known remedies. Occasionally however there is the need for a diviner if general treatment is not sufficient, so that he can identify spiritual agencies at work (Horton, 67). This represents the jump from common sense to mystical thought or theory. This relates to Lloyd’s thoughts concerning the use of the supernatural by primitive people to explain events with no natural cause, whereas western societies claim ignorance. Primitive societies are simply suggesting a theory behind things that seem unexplained. They are looking for order underlying disorder as Beattie put it. Western societies rely on scientific theory for this, and when they experience an unexplained event, they will attribute this to a phenomena not yet discovered by science. So the mentalities of the different groups are different, but the underlying reason for such mentalities is the same.         Horton sees the main difference between primitive or traditional societies and scientific societies is the presence or absence of awareness of alternatives to theoretical tenets (2001, 69). This is absent in traditional societies, giving them the name closed societies, but present in scientific societies, making them open societies.         When other tenets are made aware to people, the current one breaks down and this initiates the transition from traditional to scientific societies. An example is how ignorance is never shown by people of traditional societies. As they know no alternative to their societys system, suggesting ignorance to why a crop failed would hint at system failure, which would lead to irreparable chaos and high anxiety within the society. This is related to how a scientist claims ignorance when a particular theory is proved wrong due to an unknown reason. This is the nature of scientific testing however, so it is a norm in western societies. The difference in mentalities in west is because the primitive people have such belief in the validity of their system, and to suggest ignorance (as in scientific societies) would lead to the breakdown of the system. Using Hortons theory makes one believe this must have occurred at some point in the history of human life, otherwise the scientific, modern societies present today would not have been able to break out of their closed system.         In a Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Gilbert Lewis states that religion is a complex set of ideas and beliefs. If these are empirical (e.g. virgin birth notion), they have to be learnt from others. The more people who believe in the idea, the more credibility it gains. Numbers persuade and reinforce a belief, so members of a society do not even enquiry as to an alternative (Lewis, 560). A certain mentality of religion is the tool used by all societies to form a strong bond within a group, and a belief in a certain god is often the main cause of warfare (different sides fighting battle bonded by specific belief) (Lewis, 575). In western societies, blame for failure or misfortune is often directed towards governments, or people will blame themselves and not dwell too much on the cause of the event, but the effect. People in western society will concentrate more on returning to a normal state, rather than trying to identify the source for their misfortune. Azander (2004) do not see witchcraft as the cause of murder, adultery, lying, laziness or incompetence, however, these are the fault of the person concerned. It is true to say that people think differently. This is true if you look at the surface of the society, if you see how events are perceived by members of the group, and you understand how sets of beliefs and thoughts change as you move from culture to culture. Works Cited Evans Pritchard, E.E. (2005): Theories of primitive religion (Oxford, Clarendon Press) Pg. 79-110 Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (2004): Witchcraft, oracles and magic among the Azande (Oxford, Clarendon Press). Horton, Robin (2001) - African traditional thought and western science. Africa, 50-71 Lewis, Gilbert (2004): Magic, religion and the rationality of belief Pg. 560-595 in Companion encyclopedia of anthropology (London, Routledge) Lloyd, G.E.R (1999): Demystifying mentalities (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press) Strange Beliefs, Singer, Andre, Strangers Abroad; (2004) Tape No. 024d The Azander, Singer, Andre, Disappearing World; (2004). Tape No.UMATIC 30 Read More