DOCSLIB.ORG

Magical Thinking in Trademark Law

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Magical Thinking in Trademark Law MAGICAL THINKING IN TRADEMARK LAW Katya Assaf* ABSTRACT People in all societies have a strong tendency toward magical thinking. This human tendency is extensively exploited by modern advertising, which routinely suggests that consuming goods will make us beautiful, successful, happy, etc. Employing anthropological research, this article suggests that such advertising creates a system of beliefs closely resembling a totemic religion. In this religion, brands perform the role of sacred objects. The article further demonstrates that trademark law supports and encourages the commercial religion of brands. Trademark law initially aims at preventing consumer confusion as to the source of goods. Yet, today famous trademarks are extensively protected against non-confusing associations. This article argues that this broad protection is based on magical thinking. Pointing out the parallels between the laws of magic and various trademark doctrines, I suggest that famous marks are legally treated as magical, sacred objects. This approach amounts to legally endorsing the religion of brands. I submit that this result is undesirable and probably even unconstitutional in light of the neutrality principle. * Assistant Professor, Law School, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I would like to thank Barton Beebe, Leah Chan Grinvald, Mark A. Lemley, Daphna Lewinsohn-Zamir, Ira Pinto, Michal Shur-Ofry, Rebecca Tushnet, Helena Zakowska-Henzler and Eyal Zamir for their invaluable comments, insights and suggestions. 1 INTRODUCTION 1. MAGICAL THINKING AND MODERN ADVERTISING (A) "Magical" Advertising: the Phenomenon (B) "Magical" Advertising at Work 2. THE LEGAL ATTITUDE TOWARD "MAGICAL" ADVERTISING 3. THE PANTHEON OF BRANDS (A) The Idea of the Sacred (B) A Unifying Principle that Binds All Rules Regarding the Sacred Things Together 4. TRADEMARK LAW AND MAGICAL THINKING (A) The Law of Similarity (B) The Law of Contagion (B.1) Positive Contagion (B.2) Negative Contagion 5. SHOULD THE LEGAL SYSTEM PROTECT THE "MAGIC" OF BRANDS? CONCLUSION 2 INTRODUCTION "I can't believe that!" said Alice. "Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath and shut your eyes." Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said: "One can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for half-an- hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."1 The idea of rationality is a very basic element in our concept of what it means to be a human being. Alice's remark that "one can't believe impossible things" sounds even somewhat tautological—to say that one considers something impossible is almost the same as saying she can't believe it. The Queen's suggestion appears to be ridiculous at first sight. And yet, nowadays the Queen's seemingly illogical approach increasingly gains followers, while Alice's straightforward view gradually looses its appeal.2 Empirical studies consistently show that the Queen was right: one can believe impossible things, and sometimes may even find it difficult not to believe them. Time after time, psychological research shows that people have a strong tendency toward irrational thought and behavior.3 The legal system largely follows Alice's approach, normally treating individuals as rational beings. As empirical evidence clearly contradicts this approach, scholars increasingly suggest modifying the legal rules in various fields, so that the legal system would reflect the human nature more adequately.4 In this article, I will examine the question of how the legal system treats irrational thinking in the specific context of advertising and brands. 1 LEWIS CARROLL, THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS, AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE, Chapter V: Wool and Water (1871). 2 See below, Part 1(B). 3 Id. 4 See below, Part 2. 3 The fact that the Queen was right seems to have been known to advertising executives for quite a long time by now. As early as in the 1920s, advertising gradually shifted from communication of dull product information toward attempts to make us believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast.5 Modern advertising commonly pleads us to believe the incredible, for instance that Coca-Cola is "open happiness"6 or that Bayer Aspirin "works wonders."7 More generally, almost every modern commercial suggests, implicitly or explicitly, that purchasing a certain product will bring miraculous results, making us young and beautiful, socially accepted, loved, successful, happy, etc. As several communication scholars have observed, modern advertising is based on a particular kind of irrational thinking known as "magical thinking."8 The tendency toward this kind of thinking is observed across a wide range of cultures, including modern western societies and is considered to be a universal trait of human thought.9 Magical thinking is characterized by the belief that small efforts may bring great results. Advertising largely follows this logic, commonly suggesting that the minimal action of buying a product will bring about grand changes.10 Empirical evidence confirms that people tend to be influenced by advertising, even while being aware of its incredibility.11 Yet, while dealing with claims of misleading advertising, courts essentially adopt Alice's view and assume that one can't believe the impossible.12 They regard the consumer as an entirely rational being, who is 5 See, e.g., Douglas B. Holt, Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding, 29 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, 80 (2002) ("Through symbols, metaphors, and allegories, brands now [in the 1920s] were magically transformed by advertising to embody psychological and social properties"); BENJAMIN R. BARBER, CONSUMED – HOW MARKETS CORRUPT CHILDREN, INFANTILIZE ADULTS AND SWALLOW CITIZENS WHOLE 175-76 (2007) ("Advertising and marketing in the first instance aimed at providing information about goods, but as consumption grew and products multiplied, the arguments for preferring one trademark over another necessarily grew more manipulative"); Robert G. Bone, Hunting Goodwill: A History of the Concept of Goodwill in Trademark Law, 86 B.U. L. REV. 547, 579-581 (2006) ("the quality of advertisements changed to […] appeal directly to human emotions, needs, and desires"); Steven Wilf, The Making of the Post-War Paradigm in American Intellectual Property Law, 31 COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF LAW & THE ARTS 139, 165-66 (2008). 6 See http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/presscenter/nr_20090316_open_happiness_single.html. 7 See http://home.suddenlink.net/video/play/157868/channels/classiccommercials. 8 See below, Part 1(A). 9 Id. 10 Id. 11 See below, Part 1(B). 12 See below, Part 2. 4 influenced only by factual statements and is largely immune against advertising hyperbole.13 I will argue that employing magical thinking, advertising attempts to create a system of beliefs similar to a religion. The anthropologist Emile Durkheim defines religion by two criteria: the idea of the sacred and a unifying principle that binds all rules regarding the sacred things together.14 I will demonstrate that modern advertising fulfills both these criteria. Advertising substantially correlates with the first criterion of Durkheim's definition: the idea of the sacred. A typical advertisement tries to convince the consumer that the advertised brand is entirely different from other products. Meanwhile, experiments show that consumers cannot distinguish between different brands of beer, cigarettes, whiskey, soft drinks, etc. in blind tests.15 Some clothing items bearing high-end brand names are manufactured in the same production line with no-names.16 This resembles Durkheim's description of "churinga"—sacred objects in totemic societies. In themselves, churinga are simple objects of wood and stone. They are distinguished from profane things by only one particularity: the totemic mark that is drawn upon them.17 Similarly, advertising encourages us to believe that a brand name makes a great difference. Advertising fulfills the second criterion of Durkheim's definition as well. Although each advertisement convinces us to buy a different product, they all have a unifying principle: the general belief in the magical power of brands. According to this principle, the way to happiness, love and success lies through consumption of branded goods. In totemic religions, each clan has its own totem, which is sacred only to clan members.18 Advertising is built upon a similar principle of multiple deities. Advertising can thus be regarded as a coherent system of beliefs resembling a religion. In this religion, the role of sacred things is performed by brands. In all religions, sacred things are perceived as magical objects. I will argue that while protecting famous brands, trademark law takes into account our tendency toward 13 Id. 14 EMILE DURKHEIM, THE ELEMENTARY FORMS OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE 37-47 (Joseph Ward Swain, trans., 1969). 15 See infra note 164. 16 See infra note 162. 17 DURKHEIM, supra note 14, at 122. 18 Id. at 102. 5 magical thinking thereby adopting, to some extent, the perception of brands as sacred things. Trademark law is designed to protect trademarks as symbols identifying the source of goods and allowing the consumer to make rational purchasing decisions.19 It traditionally aims to prevent consumer confusion as to the source of goods.20 Yet, with the course of time, the notion of consumer confusion has been considerably broadened.21 Furthermore, the doctrine of dilution provides today additional protection to famous trademarks.22 The combination of the broad consumer confusion test and the doctrine of dilution often results in protecting famous trademarks against uses that merely evoke an association, without causing any meaningful confusion.23 This protection against associations seems to be at odds with the general legal presumption of human rationality: a non-confusing association with a famous brand should not influence a rationally thinking consumer in any way. This article suggests that the protection against associations is based on magical thinking.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Looking at Femininity Sympodcast Programme
    Looking at Femininity Sympodcast Cardiff University Twitter: @AtFemininity Instagram: @lookingatfemininity Lookingatfemininity.wordpress.com 2 Episode Panel Air Date Title: Early Twentieth Century Challenges to Femininity Monday 1 February 2021 @ Speakers: 10am 1 Rebekka Jolley Ellye Van Grieken Jessica McIvor Title: Mobile Femininity Monday 15 February 2021 @ Speakers: 10am Caleb Sivyer 2 Devika Karnard Christina Thatcher Joan Passey Title: Centre-Staged Bodies Monday 1 March 2021 @ Speakers: 10am 3 Eve Froude Sarah Merton Maria Manning Title: The Surreal-Feminine: Being and Looking Monday 15 March 2021 @ Speakers: 10am 4 Alessia Zinnari Christy Heflin Nadia Albaladejo Garcia Title: Musings of The Debutante Coven Monday 29 March 2021 @ Speakers: 10am 5 Molly Gilroy Rachel Ashenden Tasmin Petrie Title: Girlhood/YA Monday 12 April 2021 @ 10am Speakers: 6 Rosie Couch Lewis Kellet Heather J. Matthews Title: Masculine Femininities Monday 26 April 2021 @ 10am Speakers: 7 Olivia Howe Martha O’Brien Title: Artistic Disruption Monday 10 May 2021 @ 10 Speakers: am 8 Dorka Tamás Rachel Carney Marilia Kaisar 3 Episode 1: Early Twentieth Century Challenges to Femininity Speakers: Rebekka Jolley, Ellye Van Grieken, Jessica McIvor ‘Ladies there is no neutral position for us to assume’: Femininity and Performative Acts in Gertrude Stein’s Ladies Voices, Counting her Dresses, and White Wines. Rebekka Jolley (Liverpool Hope University) Gertrude Stein’s opera The Mother of Us All (1946) is based on the life of Susan B. Anthony a social reformer and part of the women’s suffrage movement. The character of Susan B. Anthony states ‘‘Ladies there is no neutral position for us to assume’ (p.70).
    [Show full text]
  • Children's Ethnobiological Notions Of
    Journal of Ethnobiology 2018 38(2): 261–275 Children’s Ethnobiological Notions of Contamination and Contagions among Maasai Agro-Pastoralists of Northern Tanzania Jennifer W. Roulette1*, Casey J. Roulette 2, Robert J. Quinlan1,3, Douglas R. Call3,4, Barry S. Hewlett1, Mark A. Caudell1,3, and Marsha B. Quinlan1,3 Abstract. Humans and other living organisms harbor disease-causing pathogenic microorganisms. These microorganisms are often transmitted through physical contact with contaminated objects, such as food, water, or other people. While some theoretical and empirical research examines the ontogeny of contamination and contagion beliefs, cross-cultural research on this topic is limited. To help remedy this paucity of data, we conducted an ethnobiological study of contagion and contamination beliefs among Maasai children (n = 42) in the Simanjiro district, Tanzania. Participants include 36 middle-aged schoolchildren and six four-year-olds. We contrast the children’s beliefs with those of 12 local adults. To measure children’s views of contagion and contamination, we developed sentence-framed yes/no elicitation tasks using three different stimuli—a fly, a cough, and a cough from someone with respiratory symptoms. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to further understand children’s ethnotheories of contamination and contagion. Children generally reported that coughs and flies are directly contaminating, whereas they offered mixed results for associational and indirect contamination. Children discussed time, psychological contagion, saliva, wind, and the supernatural/natural as key elements to their beliefs, reasons, and personal actions taken to minimize contamination/contagion risk. We found education to be significantly positively correlated with children reporting that flies and coughs were directly contaminating, while age had no effect.
    [Show full text]
  • Paranormal, Superstitious, Magical, and Religious Beliefs
    Paranormal, superstitious, magical, and religious beliefs Kia Aarnio Department of Psychology University of Helsinki, Finland Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences at the University of Helsinki in Auditorium XII, Fabianinkatu 33, on the 19th of October, 2007, at 12 o’clock UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Department of Psychology Studies 44: 2007 2 Supervisor Marjaana Lindeman, PhD Department of Psychology University of Helsinki Finland Reviewers Professor Stuart Vyse Department of Psychology Connecticut College USA Timo Kaitaro, PhD Department of Law University of Joensuu Finland Opponent Professor Pekka Niemi Department of Psychology University of Turku Finland ISSN 0781-8254 ISBN 978-952-10-4201-0 (pbk.) ISBN 978-952-10-4202-7 (PDF) http://www.ethesis.helsinki.fi Helsinki University Printing House Helsinki 2007 3 CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................... 6 TIIVISTELMÄ ....................................................................................................................... 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS....................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS ................................................................................ 10 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 11 1.1. Defining paranormal beliefs 12 1.1.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Magical Thinking: Outcome Bias Affects Children’S Evaluation of Testimony
    Magical Thinking: Outcome Bias Affects Children’s Evaluation of Testimony Iris Oved Gail Heyman David Barner ([email protected]) ([email protected]) ([email protected]) Department of Psychology, 9500 Gilman Drive San Diego, CA 92093 USA Abstract informants based on factors like their age (Jaswal & Neely, 2006; VanderBorght, & Jaswal, 2009), and their previous In a series of three experiments we examined how preschool children assess testimony in relation to the relative desirability of history of accuracy (Birch, Vauthier, & Bloom, 2008; the outcome for themselves and for the individual providing the Corriveau & Harris, 2009; Jaswal & Neely, 2006), and that testimony. The first two experiments reveal evidence for an they sometimes weigh the testimony over their own direct outcome bias: children are more likely to believe an extraordinary perceptual experience (Jaswal, 2010). claim when they have little to lose in doing so (Exp.1), and when There are also other factors that influence how humans they stand to gain if the claim is true (Exp. 2). The final evaluate testimony when forming beliefs. In some cases, experiment (Exp. 3) showed that children are less likely to believe beliefs that are fundamental to how we understand the world extraordinary claims when the person making the claim has are formed in direct contravention with expert testimony ulterior motives (e.g., stands to potentially gain from the child’s and despite considerable physical evidence to the contrary belief). These data show that children’s beliefs acquired from testimony are subject to outcome bias, and that children are (e.g., climate change, evolution). In these cases many claims capable of exercising skepticism when the source of testimony is are assessed on the basis of prior convictions, in conformity likely to have ulterior motives.
    [Show full text]
  • Magical Thinking and Religious Thinking
    E-Theologos, Vol. 3, No. 2 DOI 10.2478/v10154-012-0017-6 Magical Thinking and Religious Thinking Marcin Cholewa - Marek Gilski The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków Although one would think that the development of science and technology promotes the elimination of magical practices and magical thinking, yet observation of contemporary culture seems to contradict this. Symptoms of magical approach to reality are becoming more noticeable: well-stocked esoteric bookshops, TV channels devoted to the subject in question, fortune-tellers' offices, authors writing about the return of magic 1. The development of science and technology and at the same time the return to the practice of magic and magical thinking is only a seeming paradox. Goethe once aptly wrote that aiming toward magic is the result of a specific contact of the human mind with science and technology. It is about an encounter that leads to disappointment, helplessness emerging from improperly set cognitive goals. In this way the belief is created that human reason is helpless, that it has been defeated, despite being able to develop and popularise science and technology. This attitude was adopted by Doctor Faust 2: Ah! Now I’ve done Philosophy, I’ve finished Law and Medicine, And sadly even Theology: Taken fierce pains, from end to end. Now here I am, a fool for sure! No wiser than I was before: [...] And see that we can know - nothing! It almost sets my heart burning. 1 M. INTROVIGNE, Powrót magii , Kraków 2005. 2 See J. Goethe, Faust , translation Poetryintranslation . January 7 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Sympathetic Magic in Disgust and Other Domains
    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 1586 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 1986, Vol. SO, No. 4, 703-712 0022-3514/86/$00,75 Operation of the Laws of Sympathetic Magic in Disgust and Other Domains Paul Rozin, Linda Millman, and Carol Nemeroff University of Pennsylvania Two laws of sympathetic magic were described by Frazer and Mauss at the beginning of this century to account for magical belief systems in traditional cultures. In this study, we show that these laws fit well with a variety of behaviors in American culture, in responses to disgusting, dangerous, or valued objects. The first law, contagion, holds that "once in contact, always in contact." That is, there can be a permanent transfer of properties from one object (usually animate) to another by brief contact. For example, in this study we show that drinks that have briefly contacted a sterilized, dead cockroach become undesirable, or that laundered shirts previously worn by a disliked person are less desirable than those previously worn by a liked or neutral person. The second law, similarity, holds that "the image equals the object," and that action taken on an object affects similar objects. In this study, we demonstrate this law by showing, for example, that people reject acceptable foods (e.g., fudge) shaped into a form that represents a disgusting object (dog feces), or that people are less accurate at throwing darts at pictures of the faces of people they like. With these and other measures, we found a great deal of evidence for the operation of the laws of sympathetic magic in all 50 of the subjects we studied.
    [Show full text]
  • Sounding Sensory Profiles in the Ancient Near East
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2019 Sounding sensory profiles in the Ancient Near East Edited by: Schellenberg, Annette ; Krüger, Thomas Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-173182 Edited Scientific Work Published Version Originally published at: Sounding sensory profiles in the Ancient Near East. Edited by: Schellenberg, Annette; Krüger, Thomas (2019). Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. SOUNDING SENSORY PROFILES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Edited by Annette Schellenberg and omas Krüger Ancient Near East Monographs Monografías sobre el Antiguo Cercano Oriente Society of Biblical Literature Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente (UCA) SOUNDING SENSORY PROFILES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST ANCIENT NEAR EAST MONOGRAPHS General Editors Jeffrey Stackert Juan Manuel Tebes Editorial Board Reinhard Achenbach Jeffrey L. Cooley C. L. Crouch Roxana Flammini Christopher B. Hays Emanuel Pfoh Andrea Seri Bruce Wells Number 25 SOUNDING SENSORY PROFILES IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST Edited by Annette Schellenberg and Thomas Krüger Atlanta Copyright © 2019 by SBL Press All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permit- ted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, SBL Press, 825 Hous- ton Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Magic, Explanations, and Evil on the Origins and Design of Witches and Sorcerers
    This is an accepted manuscript. Please cite as: Singh, M. (forthcoming) Magic, explanations, and evil: On the origins and design of witches and sorcerers. Current Anthropology. Magic, explanations, and evil On the origins and design of witches and sorcerers Manvir Singh Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University 13 March 2020 Abstract In nearly every documented society, people believe that some misfortunes are caused by malicious group mates using magic or supernatural powers. Here I report cross-cultural patterns in these beliefs and propose a theory to explain them. Using the newly-created Mystical Harm Survey, I show that several conceptions of malicious mystical practitioners recur around the world, including sorcerers (who use learned spells), possessors of the evil eye (who transmit injury through their stares and words), and witches (who possess superpowers, pose existential threats, and engage in morally abhorrent acts). I argue that these beliefs develop from three cultural selective processes: a selection for intuitive magic, a selection for plausible explanations of impactful misfortune, and a selection for demonizing myths that justify mistreatment. Separately, these selective schemes produce traditions as diverse as shamanism, conspiracy theories, and campaigns against heretics – but around the world, they jointly give rise to the odious and feared witch. I use the tripartite theory to explain the forms of beliefs in mystical harm and outline ten predictions for how shifting conditions should affect those conceptions. Societally-corrosive beliefs can persist when they are intuitively appealing or they serve some believers’ agendas. ON THE ORIGINS AND DESIGN OF WITCHES AND SORCERERS “I fear them more than anything else,” said Don Talayesva1 about witches.
    [Show full text]
  • An Examination of Intention-Based Contagion
    Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 11, No. 6, November 2016, pp. 554–571 Contamination without contact: An examination of intention-based contagion Olga Stavrova∗ George E. Newman† Anna Kulemann‡ Detlef Fetchenhauer § Abstract Contagion refers to the belief that individuals or objects can acquire the essence of a particular source, such as a disgusting product or an immoral person, through physical contact. This paper documents beliefs in a "contact-free" form of contagion whereby an object is thought to inherit the essence of a person when it was designed, but never actually physically touched, by the individual. We refer to this phenomenon as contagion through creative intent or "intention-based contagion" and distinguish it from more traditional forms of contact-based contagion (Studies 1 and 2), as well as alternative mechanisms such as mere association (Studies 2 and 3a). We demonstrate that, like contact-based contagion, intention-based contagion results from beliefs in transferred essence (Study 1) and involves beliefs in transfer of actual properties (Study 4). However, unlike contact-based contagion, intention-based contagion does not appear to be as strongly related to the emotion of disgust (Study 1) and can influence evaluations in auditory as well as visual modalities (Studies 3a–3c). Keywords: sympathetic magic, music, contagion, morality. 1 Introduction Wolf, 2008); and even the choice of organ transplant donors (Hood, Gjersoe, Donnelly, Byers & Itajkura, 2011; Meyer, People are averse to objects that were once in contact with Leslie, Gelman & Stilwell, 2013). disliked or disgusting sources such as a sweater worn by a Historically, researchers have emphasized the importance serial killer, or a hat that belonged to a Nazi officer (Hood, of physical contact in motivating contagion effects.
    [Show full text]
  • Magical Thinking
    applyparastyle "!g//caption/p[1]" parastyle "FigCapt" applyparastyle "!g" parastyle "Figure" MAGICAL THINKING Andrew M. Bailey According to theists, God is an immaterial thinking being. The main question of this article is whether theism supports the view that we too are immaterial thinking beings. I shall argue in the negative. Along the way, I will also explore some implications in the philosophy of mind following from the observation that, on theism, God’s mentality is in a certain respect magical. “God is a Spirit, in!nite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” – Westminster Shorter Catechism “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” – Grand Master Yoda 1. Introduction The epigraphs above express two theses I want to work through in this arti- cle—roughly, theism and dualism. What I want to know is this: does the "rst support the second? Can we reason from theism to dualism? Beyond any intrinsic interest, here are two reasons to care about these questions. First: while the conjunction of theism and dualism is common enough, a growing cadre of philosophers af!rm theism and deny dualism.1 If there is a path from theism to dualism, this is a mistake, perhaps even a grave one. I hope, then, to identify and assess some arguments from theism to dualism. I shall focus especially on arguments from the simplicity of dualism, given theism, and the apparent impossibility of wholly material thinking beings. Second, a path from theism to dualism would uncover evidence to be accounted for in any "nal assessment of theism.
    [Show full text]
  • Likeness and Likelihood in Everyday Thought: Magical Thinking in Judgments About Personality [And Comments and Reply]
    Likeness and Likelihood in Everyday Thought: Magical Thinking in Judgments About Personality [and Comments and Reply] Richard A. Shweder; Joseph B. Casagrande; Donald W. Fiske; J. David Greenstone; Paul Heelas; Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition; David F. Lancy Current Anthropology, Vol. 18, No. 4. (Dec., 1977), pp. 637-658. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28197712%2918%3A4%3C637%3ALALIET%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G Current Anthropology is currently published by The University of Chicago Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/ucpress.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology.
    [Show full text]
  • Dilemma of Magic and Witchcraft: It's Relation with the Ethnicity
    Historical Research Letter www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-3178 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0964 (Online) Vol.31, 2016 Dilemma of Magic and Witchcraft: It’s Relation with the Ethnicity of Elizabethan Age Kanwal Nadeem 1 Tahir Saleem 2 1 (M.Phil Scholar) The University of Lahore, Gujrat Campus,Pakistan 2 (PhD Scholar) Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan Abstract This study explores the elements of supernaturalism and witchcraft as the prominent theme in Shakespeare’s play “Othello”. However, it does not have any direct allusion to ghosts and witches but the role of magic is eminent in this play. It can be overlooked by abundant references to bewitchment, prominent among which are the magical history of handkerchief and the allegation of Brabantio against Othello. This will bring to light that cultural background has a prominent impact on Shakespeare’s plays and the role of magic in Othello imposes threats on Venetian society. Shakespeare’s work will be analysed in the light of New Historicism Theory, which explores the work of art and literature in relation to its cultural context. The study has brougt the role of witchcraft and magic to the surface which is ambiguous in the play and has prominent impact on society and culture of that time. Keywords : Supernatural Elements, Magic, Bewitchment, Magical History, New Historicism, handkerchief, Venetian Society, Witchcraft Introduction Shakespeare’s plays are universal in their appeal as they belong to all ages. However, they are primarily outstanding representatives of the belief-systems practiced in the Elizabethan Age. The plays not only reflect these belief systems, rather they are equally instrumental in shaping them; A play by Shakespeare is related to the context of its production, the economic and political system of Elizabethan and Jacobean England and the particular institutions of cultural production as far as culture is made continuously and Shakespeare’s text is reconstructed, reappraised and reassigned all the time through diverse institutions in specific contexts.
    [Show full text]