ermetikon
Origin of Man and Superstitions
Open in Reader

British philosophy and primitive belief

The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions

Carveth Read1920
Advancedcomplete

An evolutionary and psychological study of human belief systems. Read posits the 'hunting pack' theory, arguing that human cooperation, intelligence, and eventually social structures like magic and religion evolved from the necessity of pack hunting in early ancestors.

This edition1920
EditionCambridge University Press
AnimismComparative ReligionVictorian Anthropology / Comparative Ethnologyfolk magic and healingNatural magicComparative Mythologyritual documentationAnthropologyComparative study of religious phenomenafolk belief documentationEvolutionary AnthropologyShamanism

Archive Paths

Comparative Religion

Comparative religion texts on ritual, myth, sacrifice, belief, ancient religion, and cross-cultural theories of sacred practice.

Comparative Mythology

Comparative mythology texts on gods, hero cycles, symbolic patterns, classical myth, Indo-European myth, and cross-cultural mythic structures.

Anthropology of Religion

Anthropological texts on ritual, animism, totemism, taboo, early religion, culture, and theories of belief formation.

Contents91 chapters

  1. 01THE ORIGIN OF MAN AND OF HIS SUPERSTITIONS
  2. 02PREFACE
  3. 03CONTENTS
  4. 04CHAPTER I ON THE DIFFERENTIATION OF MAN FROM THE ANTHROPOIDS
  5. 05§ 1. The Hypothesis
  6. 06§ 2. What the Hypothesis Explains
  7. 07§ 3. Minor and Secondary Consequences
  8. 08§ 4. Prey and Competitors
  9. 09§ 5. Conclusion
  10. 10CHAPTER II ON THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE HUMAN FROM THE ANTHROPOID MIND
  11. 11§ 1. Heredity, Adaptation, Accommodation
  12. 12§ 2. The Original Stock and the Conditions of Differentiation
  13. 13§ 3. Primal Society
  14. 14§ 4. Psychology of the Hunting-pack
  15. 15§ 5. The Wolf-type of Man established by Natural Selection
  16. 16§ 6. Some further Consequences of the Hunting-life
  17. 17§ 7. Moralisation of the Hunters
  18. 18§ 8. Influence of the Imaginary Environment
  19. 19CHAPTER III BELIEF AND SUPERSTITION
  20. 20§ 1. Superstition
  21. 21§ 2. Imagination
  22. 22§ 3. Belief
  23. 23§ 4. Causes and Grounds of Belief
  24. 24§ 5. The Beliefs of Immature Minds
  25. 25§ 6. The Reasoning of Immature Minds
  26. 26§ 7. General Ideas at the Savage Level
  27. 27§ 8. The Weakness of Imagination-beliefs
  28. 28CHAPTER IV MAGIC
  29. 29§ 1. Antiquity of Magic
  30. 30§ 2. What is Magic?
  31. 31§ 3. The Beginnings of Magic
  32. 32§ 4. Magical Force and Primitive Ideas of Causation
  33. 33§ 5. Magic and Mystery
  34. 34§ 6. Volitional Magic
  35. 35§ 7. The Evolution of Magic—Direct Magic
  36. 36§ 8. Indirect or “Sympathetic” Magic
  37. 37§ 9. The Dissolution of Magic
  38. 38CHAPTER V ANIMISM
  39. 39§ 1. What is Animism?
  40. 40§ 2. Psychological Animism
  41. 41§ 3. The Ghost Theory
  42. 42§ 4. Extension of the Ghost Theory to Animals
  43. 43§ 5. Ghosts and Soul-stuff
  44. 44§ 6. Ghosts and Spirits
  45. 45§ 7. How Ghosts and Spirits are imagined
  46. 46§ 8. Origin and Destiny of Souls
  47. 47§ 9. The Treatment of Ghosts
  48. 48§ 10. Evolution and Dissolution of Animism
  49. 49CHAPTER VI THE RELATIONS BETWEEN MAGIC AND ANIMISM
  50. 50§ 1. The Question of Priority
  51. 51§ 2. Magic and Religion
  52. 52§ 3. Ideas and Practices of Magic adopted by Animism
  53. 53§ 4. Retrogradation
  54. 54§ 5. Spirits know Magic, teach it, and inspire Magicians
  55. 55§ 6. Spirits operate by Magic
  56. 56§ 7. Spirits are controlled by Magic
  57. 57CHAPTER VII OMENS
  58. 58§ 1. The Prevalence of Omens
  59. 59§ 2. Omens and Natural Signs
  60. 60§ 3. Some Signs Conceived of as Magical
  61. 61§ 4. Differentiation of Omens from General Magic
  62. 62§ 5. Omens Interpreted by Animism
  63. 63§ 6. Natural and Artificial Omens
  64. 64§ 7. Divination and Oracles
  65. 65§ 8. Apparent Failure of Omens
  66. 66§ 9. Apology for Omens
  67. 67CHAPTER VIII THE MIND OF THE WIZARD
  68. 68§ 1. The Rise and Fall of Wizardry
  69. 69§ 2. The Wizard’s Pretensions
  70. 70§ 3. Characteristics of the Wizard
  71. 71§ 4. The Wizard and the Sceptic
  72. 72§ 5. The Wizard’s Persuasion
  73. 73CHAPTER IX TOTEMISM
  74. 74§ 1. Meaning and Scope of Totemism
  75. 75§ 2. Of the Origin of Totemism
  76. 76§ 3. The Conceptional Hypothesis
  77. 77§ 4. Andrew Lang’s Hypothesis
  78. 78§ 5. Totemism and Marriage
  79. 79§ 6. The Clansman and his Totem
  80. 80§ 7. Totemism and Magic
  81. 81§ 8. Totemism and Animism
  82. 82CHAPTER X MAGIC AND SCIENCE
  83. 83§ 1. Their Common Ground
  84. 84§ 2. The Differentiation
  85. 85§ 3. Why Magic seems to be the Source of Science
  86. 86§ 4. Animism and Science
  87. 87INDEX
  88. 88FOOTNOTES:
  89. 89THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
  90. 90"Cover"
  91. 91The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions, by Carveth Read, M.A.

Readers Also Explore

Primitive Manners & Customs

Primitive Manners & Customs

1879

Advanced
Three Books of Occult Philosophy

Three Books of Occult Philosophy

1533

Intermediate

Ask the Hermetikon Archivist about this text

Search within this book, retrieve direct quotations with page references, or explore related ideas.

Ask the Archivist