Title The decline of magic : Britain in the Enlightenment / Michael Hunter

Published New Haven : Yale University Press, [2020] ©2020

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Description 1 online resource (265 pages) : illustrations Contents Cover page; Halftitle page; Title page; Copyright page; CONTENTS; PREFACE; ILLUSTRATIONS; ABBREVIATIONS; introduction; Background; The Scientific Revolution and the Supernatural; 'Atheism' and its Significance; The Current Volume; chapter one JOHN WAGSTAFFE, WITCHCRAFT AND THE NATURE OF RESTORATION FREE-THOUGHT; John Wagstaffe's The Question of Witchcraft Debated (1669); Wagstaffe's Impact and Legacy; chapter two FROM THE DEISTS TO FRANCIS HUTCHINSON; The Deists and Magic; Free-thought and the Response to it; Francis Hutchinson and Changing Orthodoxy Boyle and Second SightBoyle's Legacy; Second Sight Debunked; The Realm of the Imagination; conclusion THE 'DECLINE OF MAGIC' RECONSIDERED; appendix i THE 'DRUMMER OF TEDWORTH'; appendix ii JOSHUA WALKER'S PAPER ON SECOND SIGHT; ENDNOTES; INDEX Chapter three THE AMBIVALENCE OF THE EARLY ROYAL SOCIETYSome Examples; The Society's 'Policy' and its Rationale; The Royal Society in Eighteenth- century Debates; The Making of a Myth; chapter four THE 'DRUMMER OF TEDWORTH'; John Mompesson and the Poltergeist; Early Reactions to the Case; Enter Joseph Glanvill; Glanvill versus the Wits; The Aftermath and the Problem of Fraud; chapter five THE ENLIGHTENMENT REJECTION OF MAGIC; John Beaumont and Sir Hans Sloane; Magic and the Doctors; Debates on the Miraculous; Scepticism and the Enlightenment; chapter six SECOND SIGHT IN SCOTLAND Summary A new history which overturns the received wisdom that science displaced magic in Enlightenment Britain In early modern Britain, belief in prophecies, omens, ghosts, apparitions and fairies was commonplace. Among both educated and ordinary people the absolute existence of a spiritual world was taken for granted. Yet in the eighteenth century such certainties were swept away. Credit for this great change is usually given to science - and in particular to the scientists of the Royal Society. But is this justified? Michael Hunter argues that those pioneering the change in attitude were not scientists but freethinkers. While some scientists defended the reality of supernatural phenomena, these sceptical humanists drew on ancient authors to mount a critique both of orthodox religion and, by extension, of magic and other forms of superstition. Even if the religious heterodoxy of such men tarnished their reputation and postponed the general acceptance of anti-magical views, slowly change did come about. When it did, this owed less to the testing of magic than to the growth of confidence in a stable world in which magic no longer had a place Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Skepticism -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century Skepticism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Occultism -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century Occultism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Spiritualism -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century Spiritualism -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century Enlightenment -- Great Britain Science and magic -- History Faith and reason -- History HISTORY -- Europe -- Great Britain -- General. Skepticism Enlightenment Faith and reason Occultism Science and magic Spiritualism Great Britain Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 0300249462 9780300249460

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