Magic and Animism in Old Religions: the Relevance of Sun Cults in the World-view of Traditional Societies
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Animistic attitudes towards natural objects as prevailing forms of understanding nature and reality are found across all pre-modern societies.Sun and moon are, like other mere physical objects, understood in terms of animate and conscious beings or persons.Ancient peoples feel personal relations towards these heavenly bodies, worship them as gods and make sacrifices to feed them.The sun cults of the Aztecs and the ancient Egyptians, chosen as typical examples to demonstrate these phenomena, can only be explained in the context of animistic, magical and artificialistic belief systems.Developmental psychology of cognitive structures explains the prevalence of these belief systems as parts of the cognitive development of mankind.
Author: Georg W. Oesterdiekhoff
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2293546597