巫术的历史作用及其终结

巫术作为一种社会现象 ,在历史上曾起过一定的积极作用 ,如可以增强人类控制客观世界的意识 ,扩展人类控制客观世界的领域 ,增强人类战胜敌手的信心 ,此外还具有组织作用、道德教化作用、精神安慰作用、交流娱乐作用等。但一方面由于巫术的荒谬性 ,巫术一再失败 ,使人们对它失去了信心 ;另一方面 ,巫术的抽象功能被后来发展起来的宗教所代替 ,实用功能被科学所代替 ,因而 ,巫术在主流文化中的历史作用已经终结 ,但仍在文化的细枝末节中广泛存在着

The Role of Witchcraft in History and Its Ending

As a social phenomenon,witchcraft once played a positive role in history.It could,for example,be used to deepen human consciousness of controlling the objective world,to expand the fields that human beings dominate the objective world,and to heighten human confidence in fighting against the opponents.In addition,witchcraft filled the roles of organization,moral edification,spiritual consolation,and communication and entertainment,etc.Witchcraft,however,failed again and again in its advancement because of its own absurdness,which caused people to lose confidence in it;on the other hand,its abstract function was replaced by religion developed later while its practical function was superseded by science.Therefore,witcharaft's historical role has ended in mainstream cultures,but it still exists in widespread cultural nonessentials.