From Fear to Framework: Tracing the Social Construction of Magic, Religion, and Science

Ahsan Fazal; Maryam  Siddiq

Ahsan Fazal Razia Hassan School of Architecture, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore
Maryam Siddiq Department of Architecture, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

Keywords: anthropology, control of nature, desire, history and magic, magic, religion, science

Abstract

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The current study aimed to explore how the boundaries between magic, religion, and science have changed over time in human history. It explained that these categories are not fixed or universal, however, have been shaped by different cultures, historical events, and power dynamics. Using historical, anthropological, and sociological texts, this study attempted to identify five key themes. These include fear and control, institutional boundary-making, cultural fluidity, knowledge progression, and epistemic exclusion. Furthermore, the study determined that the differences between magic, religion, and science are not fixed or natural instead, they are created by cultures and societies over time. These findings add to the ongoing discussions about how people in different times and places have understood, accepted, or challenged different belief systems. In the end, it argued that all three, magic, religion, and science, are ways that human beings have developed to understand and deal with the mysteries of life.

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