Superstition

Superstition, more rarely superstition, refers to a "belief, regarded as erroneous, in the efficacy of supernatural powers in certain people and things" (e.g. witchcraft or talismans), including an idea of the workings of anthropomorphically conceived demonic forces. Superstitions are found in the lives and actions of people in all cultures and times. Such ideas exist both in culturally generally accepted collective thought patterns and rites, e.g. in the belief in symbols that bring good or bad luck (lucky symbols) or in sayings (e.g. "toi, toi, toi"), and also individually.

The term "superstition" (Latin superstitio) is applied in a negative way to forms of belief and religious practices (cults) that do not correspond to the system of cultural convictions and doctrines of the "dominant" religion or worldview, which is perceived as "correct" and "generally valid". In this respect it can also be used to describe exaggerated religiosity (superstitio - "over-belief"). In Abrahamic-religious circles, the term is used among like-minded people to refer to a lack of theological education, but also to disparage popular (cf., for example, folk piety) and occult beliefs. "Superstition" became a fighting term after the Enlightenment/counter-Enlightenment in the 18th and 19th centuries within the (Christian) denominations (cf. Kulturkampf), but also a value judgment for newly emerging spiritualistic or medical methods and theories such as animal magnetism or hypnosis. Since the term is defined by the prevailing view of the world and faith, the content is determined by the particular scientific or religious viewpoint of the performer. From an atheistic point of view, all religion is superstition.

In scientific usage, the term has been largely replaced by the term folk belief, which goes beyond the ecclesiastical terminology. Medical superstition is found among other things in folk medicine. The word "superstition", in use since the 16th century, increasingly served the clergy as a fighting term against heresy and heresy and was positively reinterpreted for the first time in the 19th century by the emerging folklore as a concept of the simple, but also uneducated population ("folk belief"). Since the beginning of the 20th century, attempts have been made, especially by the human sciences, to investigate the psychological and socio-cultural foundations of superstition.

In common usage, the term "superstition" is also equated with unreasonableness and unscientificness, is close to the Latin term superstitio and can be understood as "false insight into the naturalness of events".

Term History

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.

Characteristics

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.