Oracles and magic

Why do bad things happen to good people?

• What about why bad things happen to bad people?– Or indeed, good things happen to good people– …or good things happen to bad people??

Zande witchcraft

• Classic exploration of: – Supernatural beliefs– Ways of diagnosing and

treating malevolent supernatural forces

• Witchcraft versus sorcery– Technical terminology in

anthropology

“Witchcraft explains unfortunate events”

Metaphysical questions

• Why? vs. How?• Not an issue of physical

causality– The “second spear” in

Zande belief– Why do events converge in

the specific way that they do?

Practical solutions• System of oracles• Magical remedies– Spitting water– Against sorcery, use more complex magic

• Not necessarily scared to death– But may be angry– The system explains and gives options for response

Parallels?

• Oracles– Polygraph– The brilliant

detective• Forensics

Litigation

Someone must be at faultLoss and pain must be compensated

Lies and truth

• Oracles and insight– Other kinds of oracles?

• Explaining and contextualizing events• Memory, private and collective

• Upholding moral order– Deviant behaviors and causality

Naturalistic vs personalized

• More focused and specific with respect to disease– Theories of the body and its well-being– Therapy > diagnosis– Personalistic systems may have more rites of

intensification??• Key still is a theory of how the world works