Magic, Science and Power

There are no peoples however primitive whitout religion and magic. Nor are there, it must be addedat once, any savage races lacking either in the scientific attitude or in science, though this lack has been frequently attibuted to them. In every primitive community, studied by trust-whorty and competent observers, there have been found two clearly distinguishable domains, the Sacred and the Profane, in other words, the domain of Magic and Religion and that of Science.

On the onde hand there are the traditional acts and observances, regarded by the natives as sacred, carried out whit reverence and awe, hedged around whit prohibitions and special rules of behavior. Such acts and observances are always associated whit belifs in supernatural forces, especially those of magic, orr whit ideas about beings, spirits, ghosts, dead ancestors, or gods. On the other hand, a moment´s reflection is sufficient to show that no art or craft however primitive could have been invented or maintained, no organized form of hunting, fishing, tilling, or search for food could be carried out without the careful observation of natural process and a firm belief in its regularity, whitout the power of reasonig and whitout confidence in the power of reason, that is, whitout the rudiments of science.

Bronislaw Malinowski