The Myth of Disenchantment : Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences

A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, __The Myth of Disenchantment__ dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past. A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason A. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines' founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, 'The Myth of Disenchantment' dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past. Introduction : A philosophical archaeology of the disenchantment of the world ; Reflexive religious studies: The entangled formation of religion, science, and magic ; Overview of the work: Europe is not Europe -- 1. Enchanted (post)modernity : Weird America ; Haunted Europe ; Conclusion: New Age (post)modernists? -- Part I: God's shadow -- 2. Revenge of the magicians : Francis Bacon and the science of magic ; The Philosophes and the science of good and evil spirits ; Conclusion: The myth of enlightenment -- 3. The myth of absence : Nihilism, revolution, and the death of God: F. H. Jacobi and G. W. F. Hegel ; The eclipse of the Gods: Friedrich Schiller ; The romantic spiral: Friedrich Hölderlin ; A myth in search of history: Jacob Burckhardt ; Conclusion: The myth of the modern loss of myth --^ 4. The shadow of God : Spirits of a vanishing God ; The haunted anthropologist: E. B. Tylor ; The magician and the philologist: Éliphas Lévi and Max Müller ; Theosophical disenchantment: Helena Blavatsky -- Conclusion: Specters of the transcendent -- 5. The decline of magic: J. G. Frazer : The cultural ruins of paganism ; The Golden Bough before disenchantment ; The departure of fairies ; The dreams of magic ; The lost theory: Despiritualizing the universe ; Conclusion: A devil's advocate -- 6. The revival of magick: Aleister Crowley : The great beast: A biographical sketch ; The God-eater and the golden bough ; Disenchanted magic ; Conclusion: From The Golden Bough to the golden dawn -- Part 2: The horrors of metaphysics -- 7. The black tide: Mysticism, rationality, and the German occult revival : Degeneration and mysticism: Max Norau ; Kant as necromancer: Carl du Prel and Arthur Schopenhauer ; Hidden depths: Sigmund Freud ; Conclusion: The cosmic night --^ 8. Dialectic of darkness: The magical foundations of critical theory : The cosmic circle ; Magical philosophy and disenchantment: Ludwig Klages ; The esoteric constellations of critical theory: Walter Benjamin ; Conclusion: The magic of theory -- 9. The ghosts of metaphysics: Logical positivism and disenchantment : Philosophical technocracy: TheodorAdorno and Max Horkheimer ; Revolutionary Antimetaphysics: Positivist disenchantment and re-enchantment; Ruldolf Carnap and Otto Neurath ; Positivists in paranormal Vienna: Rudolf Carnap and Hans Hahn ; Conclusion: The magic of disenchantment -- 10. The world of enchantment; or, Max Weber at the end of history : The disenchantment of the world ; Weber the mystic and the return from the God eclipse ; Conclusion: Disenchantment disenchanted -- Conclusion: The myth of modernity : The myths of (post)modernity ; The myth of disenchantment as regulative ideal ; Against the tide of disenchantment. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm. Includes bibliographical references and index. A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? This book traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, it argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past This study of the early human sciences and their deep connections to spiritualism dispenses with the myth that separates magic and modernity. Many theorists contend that the defining feature of modernity is our collective loss of faith in spirits, myths, and magic. But in The Myth of Disenchantment , Jason A. Josephson-Storm argues against this narrative, showing that attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than not. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. He demonstrates that the founding figures of these "mythless" disciplines were in fact profoundly enmeshed in the occult and spiritualist revivals of Britain, France, and Germany. It was in response to this milieu that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.