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The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions

by Carveth Read

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  1. 1Preface
  2. 2Contents
  3. 3Chapter I — On the Differentiation of Man From the Anthropoids
  4. 4§ 2 — What the Hypothesis Explains
  5. 5§ 3 — Minor and Secondary Consequences
  6. 6§ 4 — Prey and Competitors
  7. 7§ 5 — Conclusion
  8. 8Chapter II — On the Differentiation of the Human From the Anthropoi…
  9. 9§ 2 — The Original Stock and the Conditions of Differentiation
  10. 10§ 3 — Primal Society
  11. 11§ 4 — Psychology of the Hunting-pack
  12. 12§ 5 — The Wolf-type of Man Established by Natural Selection
  13. 13§ 6 — Some Further Consequences of the Hunting-life
  14. 14§ 7 — Moralisation of the Hunters
  15. 15§ 8 — Influence of the Imaginary Environment
  16. 16Chapter III — Belief and Superstition
  17. 17§ 2 — Imagination
  18. 18§ 3 — Belief
  19. 19§ 4 — Causes and Grounds of Belief
  20. 20§ 5 — The Beliefs of Immature Minds
  21. 21§ 6 — The Reasoning of Immature Minds
  22. 22§ 7 — General Ideas at the Savage Level
  23. 23§ 8 — The Weakness of Imagination-beliefs
  24. 24Chapter IV — Magic — § 1 — Antiquity of Magic
  25. 25§ 2 — What Is Magic?
  26. 26§ 3 — The Beginnings of Magic
  27. 27§ 4 — Magical Force and Primitive Ideas of Causation
  28. 28§ 5 — Magic and Mystery
  29. 29§ 6 — Volitional Magic
  30. 30§ 7 — The Evolution of Magic — Direct Magic
  31. 31§ 8 — Indirect or “Sympathetic” Magic
  32. 32§ 9 — The Dissolution of Magic
  33. 33Chapter V — Animism
  34. 34§ 2 — Psychological Animism
  35. 35§ 3 — The Ghost Theory
  36. 36§ 4 — Extension of the Ghost Theory to Animals
  37. 37§ 5 — Ghosts and Soul-stuff
  38. 38§ 6 — Ghosts and Spirits
  39. 39§ 7 — How Ghosts and Spirits Are Imagined
  40. 40§ 8 — Origin and Destiny of Souls
  41. 41§ 9 — The Treatment of Ghosts
  42. 42§ 10 — Evolution and Dissolution of Animism
  43. 43Chapter VI — The Relations Between Magic and Animism
  44. 44§ 2 — Magic and Religion
  45. 45§ 3 — Ideas and Practices of Magic Adopted by Animism
  46. 46§ 4 — Retrogradation
  47. 47§ 5 — Spirits Know Magic, Teach It, and Inspire Magicians
  48. 48§ 6 — Spirits Operate by Magic
  49. 49§ 7 — Spirits Are Controlled by Magic
  50. 50Chapter VII — Omens
  51. 51§ 2 — Omens and Natural Signs
  52. 52§ 3 — Some Signs Conceived of as Magical
  53. 53§ 4 — Differentiation of Omens From General Magic
  54. 54§ 5 — Omens Interpreted by Animism
  55. 55§ 6 — Natural and Artificial Omens
  56. 56§ 7 — Divination and Oracles
  57. 57§ 8 — Apparent Failure of Omens
  58. 58§ 9 — Apology for Omens
  59. 59Chapter VIII — The Mind of the Wizard
  60. 60§ 2 — The Wizard’s Pretensions
  61. 61§ 3 — Characteristics of the Wizard
  62. 62§ 4 — The Wizard and the Sceptic
  63. 63§ 5 — The Wizard’s Persuasion
  64. 64Chapter IX — Totemism
  65. 65§ 2 — Of the Origin of Totemism
  66. 66§ 3 — The Conceptional Hypothesis
  67. 67§ 4 — Andrew Lang’s Hypothesis
  68. 68§ 5 — Totemism and Marriage
  69. 69§ 6 — The Clansman and His Totem
  70. 70§ 7 — Totemism and Magic
  71. 71§ 8 — Totemism and Animism
  72. 72Chapter X — Magic and Science
  73. 73§ 2 — The Differentiation
  74. 74§ 3 — Why Magic Seems to Be the Source of Science
  75. 75§ 4 — Animism and Science

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