Superstition: beliefs, origins, and social roles

The term aberglaube is attested since the 12th century (late Mthd. abergloube) and became common in the 16th century. According to modern etymological dictionaries, the word component "aber-" originally meant "after, against, behind", although it later took on a derogatory meaning and denoted the opposite of what the second word component expressed, e.g. in "Aberwitz". The word came into use as a loan transfer of the Latin term super-stitio. The term was derived from after-belief (= mis-belief) and stood for "false", i.e. deviating from the Christian doctrine of faith, beliefs and forms. Superstition was considered pagan, immoral and heretical.

The conversion of the pagans was completed in Europe, but the local folk beliefs lived on within certain limits: spells, amulets, evil eye, sacred trees and sacred groves were not to dissuade Christians from the true faith. Moreover, the term superstition was intended to counteract the new pre-Reformation and sectarian influences. Critics of the church and deviants, the heretics, were thus to be placed on the same level as witches and sorcerers. The rule knowledge of the emerging natural science was defamed: Knowing or wanting to see instead of believing and trusting were suspected of arrogance and fanaticism, were thus in contradiction to Christian ethics.

In antiquity, the term "superstitio" could occasionally be used in a morally neutral way; a "superstitiosus" was a soothsayer. As a rule, however, it was understood to mean an exaggerated timidity and apprehension with regard to religious matters. According to the philosophy of the Stoa, true religion and piety was the middle ground between atheism, with too little, and superstition, with too much attentiveness to religious things. The Greek philosopher Plutarch, who was close to Middle Platonism, condemns as superstition anything done to the gods merely for fear of harm and ruin. Among the Church Fathers, Lactantius then defines "religio" only as the worship of the "true God," which belongs to Christians alone. The belief of the pagans in many and false gods is thus superstition (superstitio).

Augustine of Hippo adopted the term "superstitio" to denote non-Christian religions. He laid the theoretical foundations of medieval teaching on the history of superstition. In his works De civitate Dei, De doctrina christiana, De divinatione daemonum, and De natura daemonum, he dealt extensively with superstition. As Bishop of Hippo, Augustine was particularly confronted with amulet beliefs, which he believed posed a serious threat to Christianity. He largely adopted his terminology and knowledge from Marcus Terentius Varro. The doctrine of demons he essentially adopted from the Neoplatonists. Augustine assumed the real existence of demons. According to him, they populated the world state ("civitas terrena" or "civitas diaboli"). To avoid a dualistic worldview, he explained demons as prehistoric fallen angels rejected by God. Magical practices were of pagan origin, and Augustine saw superstition as an attempt to gain security with the help of the pagan gods, who were identified with the demons. Thus superstition was identified with pagan idolatry. Thomas Aquinas also understood superstition as moral, intellectual, and religious decay. He interpreted idolatry as a form of "superstitio," but also dealt with superstitious forms of intrinsically proper, Christian worship of God; these were nonetheless sinful.

In the Age of Enlightenment a fundamental change occurred: The question of right belief was replaced by efforts to determine the scope of rational judgment and scientific principles. Superstition was regarded as a deviation from reason and was primarily a historical and social educational problem. The Enlightenment was directed, among other things, against religious superstition and developed a "religion of reason." Immanuel Kant, for example, said, "Superstition is the tendency to place greater confidence in what is supposed not to occur naturally than in what can be explained according to natural laws - whether in the physical or the moral." The term superstition - according to a definition by social psychologist Judd Marmor - refers to beliefs and practices that are scientifically unfounded and do not correspond to a society's achieved level of knowledge.

Superstitious practices can generally conceal a desire to banish the unknown or threatening (including diseases) through incantatory actions or utterances, or to bring about good fortune. These ideas exist both in culturally recognized, collective thought patterns and rites, such as the belief in symbols that bring good or bad luck (a gift of bad luck) and incantations, but also on an individual level with very personal objects, habits and actions to which one's own hidden, guiding powers are attributed.

Superstition arises from the false linking of cause and effect. Brain & Mind magazine wrote in 2009, "People tend to think simultaneous events are causally linked, when in fact they are independent." When two events coincide in time once or twice, a causal link would be assumed, so superstitious behavior would emerge relatively quickly. Conversely, it takes many times of non-coincidence to dispel this suspicion.