Philosophy

Berlin, 2021 . 218 pp ., 2 fig . b/w . Modernity in Question. Studies in Philosophy and History of Ideas. Vol. 15

hb . • ISBN 978-3-631-84035-1 CHF 59 .– / €D 49 .95 / €A 50 .– / € 47 .60 / £ 39 .– / US-$ 57 .95 eBook (SUL) • ISBN 978-3-631-84050-4 CHF 59 .– / €D 50 .95 / €A 52 .40 / € 47 .60 / £ 39 .– / US-$ 57 .95

Monographs, English Jan Kajfosz• Jan Pytalski Magic in Popular Narratives

The book deals with manifestations and relics of magical thinking in the narrative folklore of Cieszyn Silesia (Teschen Silesia, Těšín Silesia) . The point of departure is a phenomenological and social constructivist approach to human cognition . The author follows the cognitive dimensions of pre-modern folklore and popular texts in general . They are conventional in the sense that they are repeated in many variants inside one communicative group . Habituation based on more or less accurate reproduction of stereotypes (and corresponding experiences), motives, action scenarios, rationalizations, and motivations, is the source of relatively stable world image . The key concept developed in the book is redefined categorization understood as the simplification and stabilization of too complex and changing reality through shared narratives .

Jan kaJFosz is university professor at the Institute of Culture Studies, University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland) and associate professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Ostrava (Czech Republic) . His research interests concern magical thinking, cognitive anthropology, and social constructivism .