Case report
The Application of Psychoanalytic Principles to the Study of »Magic«
Vlasta Rudan
Mara Tripković
Mercedes Vidas
Abstract
In this paper Freud’s work on animism and magic is elaborated. Those two subjects
are presented mainly in his work »Totem and Taboo« (1913). The true motives, which
lead primitive man to practice magic are, according to Freud, human whishes and his
immense belief in their power. Importance attached to wishes and to the will has been
extended from them to all those psychical acts, which are subjected to will. A general
overvaluation has thus come about of all mental processes. Things become less important
than ideas of things. Relations, which hold between the ideas of things, are equally
hold between the things. The principle of governing magic or the technique of animistic
way of thinking is one of the 'omnipotence of thoughts'. The overvaluation of psychic
acts could be brought into relation with narcissism and megalomania, a belief in the
thaumaturgic force of words and a technique for dealing with the external world – 'magic'
– which appears to be a logical application of these grandiose premises. Recent psychoanalytic
authors dealing with the problem of magic emphasize that magic survived
culturally to the present days and even in adults who are otherwise intellectually and
scientifically 'modern'. Their explanations for that derive from Ferenczi’s and especially
Róheim’s work that pointed out that magic facilitates adaptive and realistically effective
endeavors. Balter pointed out that magic employs ego functioning, and conversely
ego functioning includes magic.
Keywords
magic; belief; omnipotence of thoughts; narcissism; ego functioning
Hrčak ID:
28098
URI
Publication date:
16.6.2003.
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